The Long Road
by drgemini86
Summary: McKay brings an injured Daniel back to Earth so that he can recover from his injuries, and Sam takes care of him. SGA Lost Tribe tag. SG-1Atlantis Xover. SamDaniel.
1. Chapter 1

_**The Long Road, by DrGemini86 (DrGemini24)**_

_**Summary: **McKay brings an injured Daniel back to Earth so that he can recover from his injuries, and Sam takes care of him. SGA Lost Tribe tag. SG-1Atlantis Xover. SamDaniel._

_**Pairing: **SamDaniel_

_**Rating: **T_

_**Category: **Established Relationship_

_**Genres: **A/U, Angst, Crossover, Drama, Episode-related, Family-focussed, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, PWP, Relationship-focussed_

_**Spoilers: **SG-1 seasons 1-10, Ark of Truth, Continuum, SGA season 4-5, SGA First Contact, SGA Lost Tribe_

_**A/N: **Was originally going to do a tremendously A/U rewrite of First Contact and Lost Tribe for the next Jackson Junior installment, but thought I'd do something standalone and somewhat related to canon for now. I'll hopefully start the Jackson Junior version soon._

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

SG-1, consisting of only Cam, Sam, Teal'c and Vala, descended the gate ramp in desert camouflage BDUs, the wormhole deactivating behind them as they returned from another mission. The two Colonels removed their hats as they approached General Landry, who appeared troubled. Landry said to Cam, exhaling as his eyes moved to Sam for the briefest of moments,

"By the distinct lack of injuries on you and your team, I trust it went well."

Cam cocked his head. "Depends on your definition of 'well', Sir. The locals weren't very receptive to trade with outsiders in..." He made air quotes with his fingers."_odd clothes._" He shrugged, glancing at Sam. "They didn't beat us up though... so I suggest we return with Jackson when he comes back from his personal Disneyland."

Landry looked grave. "I'm afraid that may take longer than you think, Mitchell."

When Sam looked worried, Teal'c and Vala moving closer to the General with concern for their friend on their faces, Landry said to Sam, "Colonel Jackson, Doctor Jackson was involved in an incident within the Pegasus galaxy. As I understand, he and Doctor McKay were captured by Asgard..."

SG-1 exchanged surprised looks, and Sam said, frowning slightly with worry for her husband's welfare, "With all respect, Sir, the Asgard are dead. You were on board the Odyssey with us."

Landry nodded. "I'm as perplexed as you are, Colonel. From the information that Mr Woolsey has already sent me, Doctors Jackson and McKay discovered an Ancient device in Atlantis that has the power to overload Stargates. An Asgard separatist group captured them and the device, intending to use it to destroy the Wraith. The Daedalus managed to rescue them from the facility that they were being held in before Colonel Sheppard destroyed the device. However..." He paused as he looked at a stunned yet fearful Sam, trying not to upset her. "... Doctor Jackson was struck by high voltage electricity while he and Doctor McKay attempted to remove a control crystal that powered the facility. He's in a stable condition. Mr Woolsey tells me that he's awake and talking, but he has extensive burns, and is in considerable pain."

Sam, shocked, nodded in acknowledgement of what the General had told her. Landry continued as he touched her forearm, drawing her attention back to him, "I have requested that he be brought back to Earth so he can recover in your care."

She nodded again, trying yet failing to remain professional as she said, "Thank you, Sir." She left the gateroom in a daze, thrown by the news of Daniel's injuries. As a concerned Cam followed her out, a worried Vala asked,

"When is Daniel coming back?"

"Doctor McKay should be bringing him home within the hour. The Expedition has had to fit a new Stargate."

Teal'c asked, "For what purpose?"

"Their 'gate was blown up by the device that Doctors Jackson and McKay found." As Vala left, Landry remarked to Teal'c, "Wait 'til Jack finds out."

Teal'c smirked briefly, knowing that Jack and Daniel shared a unique bond. "Do you wish me to place a bet on your behalf again with regard to how long it will take O'Neill to return to the SGC?"

Landry smiled slightly, patting the Jaffa on the shoulder. "We'll talk later."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Four members of SG-1, dressed in blue combat fatigues, stood shoulder-to-shoulder in the gateroom in front of an active Stargate. Sam chewed her lip in worry, hoping that Daniel's injuries weren't permanent or life-threatening. Cam squeezed her shoulder in support. "He'll be fine, Sam. He always is."

Sam spoke quietly, shaking her head slightly, "He also always finds a way to get injured. I swear... that man..."

Vala remarked, looking optimistic, "Well, could be worse."

The rest of the team looked at her with various expressions of bewilderment and bemusement, and she continued with shrug, "He could have been shot by one of the Expedition members _by accident_..."

Everyone else shook their heads and Cam said, "This is what the boy gets for going anywhere without back-up. Nobody got injured the last time we toured as a band instead of going solo." Their attentions were drawn back to the active event horizon when something finally came through – McKay, a group of medics and a fully-loaded gurney. Sam's heart leapt into her throat on seeing the prone form of her husband and, not noticing McKay, she followed the gurney out of the gateroom as Carolyn led the party to the Infirmary, the CMO reading through a clipboard as she rushed alongside the gurney.

Sam was pushed out of the Infirmary by the bustling medics as they prepared for surgery. Carolyn, on noticing her, approached her and said reassuringly, touching the Colonel's hand, "Sam... he's going to be okay." Noticing Sam's gaze move to where the medics were working, Carolyn said, gesturing towards a doorway, "Go up to the observation room. You can come back in when we've finished."

A scared looking Sam asked as her attention was drawn back to the doctor, "What are you doing to him?"

"It's just finishing what Doctor Keller started in Atlantis – cleaning the wounds, and maybe some skin grafts. We're also going to run some more comprehensive scans on him." Carolyn squeezed Sam's hand. "He's going to be fine, Sam."

Sam nodded slowly, looking upset, and Carolyn said softly, "Go on." The Colonel reluctantly left the Infirmary, glancing back at where she knew her husband was, even if she couldn't see him. She was on her way to the observation room when she heard a voice.

"Hey."

She turned to see McKay fall in step with her as she continued on her way. She replied half-heartedly, "Hey, Rodney."

McKay looked as though he was choosing his words as they made their way to the observation room. On arriving, the two sat down, looking through the glass at the Infirmary below as surgeons worked on Daniel. Finally, McKay spoke, his eyes fixed on the happenings below.

"Daniel really thought he was a goner back there." He looked at Sam, noting how she was trying very hard to hold it together. "It's lucky we were rescued when we were." He paused. "I respect him." Sam turned to look at him, incredulous. He raised his hands briefly. "I know, I know, you're going to end up running tests on me in a minute to make sure I haven't been compromised by an alien with a penchant for Daniel Jackson..." He smiled slightly. "I really appreciated having him along on the ride."

Sam remarked, her voice sounding a little strained as she smiled a little, "You didn't tell him, did you?"

He looked as though he had been caught out, and then he said, "Ah, well... I didn't tell him, per se..."

She smiled again. "Thanks for being there."

He half-shrugged. "Hey, I did nothing." He paused and then reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small black box and held it out to Sam.

The Colonel remarked, annoyed, an eyebrow raised, "You may not have noticed, but I am married."

McKay stared at her. "Uh... it's not mine." He gestured towards the glass. "Indy in there gave it to me to give to you when he thought he wasn't going to make it. Take it."

Now scared at what it could be, Sam took the box from the Physicist and stared at it. As her chest felt as though it was constricting, she opened the box and saw a plain gold ring. Her hand went to her mouth in shock, knowing how much it must have taken for Daniel to believe that he was going to die. "Oh God..."

McKay looked at the ring as she held it in her palm. "What? You don't like it? To tell you the truth, it looks a little big for you."

She shook her head. "It's his wedding band." He immediately clammed up on seeing Sam so upset, and, looking troubled, he looked down into the Infirmary again as Sam tried hard to concentrate on the fact that she still had her husband.


	2. Chapter 2

When Sam was finally allowed into the Infirmary, she found Daniel sleeping with a little frown on his face. She smiled slightly, wondering if in his sleep he knew that he wasn't in his own bed at home. She sat at his bedside and held his hand as she watched over him, beginning a vigil that could last for hours or quite possibly days. She had spent many hours and days in the Infirmary over her many years as a member of SG-1, both as a patient and at the bedsides of her team-mates. Just lately, it seemed to her as though she was spending the bulk of her Infirmary time at Daniel's bedside.

She was soon joined by Cam, Teal'c, Vala and McKay, who each took seats around the Archaeologist's bed, glancing in greeting at Sam. Teal'c asked the Astrophysicist, "ColonelJackson, have you consumed anything?"

Sam replied softly, her eyes on her husband, "No." When Cam opened his mouth, about to force her to eat, she shook her head, silencing him, a strained expression on her face. "Sorry, but until he's awake, I'm not doing anything." She gently smoothed Daniel's hair back, watching his frown even out.

McKay remarked, resulting in the others looking at him, "Well, you know, you're going to have to do something... I mean, you can't just sit there for days on end, waiting for Danny here to wake up. You'll get all cramped and start wilting."

Cam nudged him as Sam shook her head a little as she returned her gaze to Daniel. The southern Colonel remarked, "Well, you know nothing about Sam. You guys had her for a year."

"And we've regretted it ever since."

Sam's head shot up to look at the Physicist sceptically. "You've _regretted_ it ever since?"

McKay looked rather scared that Sam could harm him at any moment, and he said, speeding up in panic as Sam continued to glare at him, "No, I meant to say... uh... _respected_. Yeah, respected. We've _respected_ it ever since, because you have a way about you and..."

"Rodney?"

McKay was breathing a little heavily from trying to talk himself out of a corner. "Yeah?"

"Shut up."

A quiet groan drew all of their attentions back to Daniel, the source of the sound. Vala remarked, looking relieved, "That's my girl."

Everyone glanced at her and then looked amused as Sam squeezed Daniel's hand. The Archaeologist finally opened his eyes and looked up at Sam with a sleepy smile. "Hey, I must be in heaven. I'm seeing an angel."

Cam snickered in amusement as Teal'c and Vala smirked, while McKay looked from Daniel to Sam, and back to Daniel again, wondering why Sam wasn't glaring at him at the very least. Sam instead smiled in relief at Daniel being awake. "Hey, you." She kissed the hand that she held. "Careful with those chat up lines... you've got an audience."

Daniel smiled, the smile fading as he noticed the others, the Archaeologist looking as though he had meant to say what he had said, audience or otherwise. Sam chuckled softly at that particular expression of her husband's, and the others greeted him. At last his eyes moved to McKay and he asked, "You thought that I was going to die again? What else did you say?"

McKay retorted, "I said nothing. I told your wife over there that I regretted you coming over to Atlantis... otherwise I'd be doing something else other than recovering from being scared half to death by those creepy Asgard."

Sam looked at the Physicist in disbelief and Cam remarked, nudging McKay, "Meredith Rodney McKay, Pegasus galaxy Physicist Extraordinaire, scared by a bunch of skinny guys with no pants?"

McKay looked pleased at what he had thought was a compliment and then he realised that it was actually an insult. "Hey! They had armour and knocked us out... and they were very scary, thank you very much." He looked at Daniel for some kind of support.

Daniel shrugged, resulting in McKay scowling at him. "They weren't so scary. I've seen a lot worse. You practically wetted yourself on seeing those two empty suits."

Teal'c smirked as Vala remarked, "The suits were _empty_? Why, Rodney, I thought you were braver than that."

Teal'c added with a raise of an eyebrow. "Indeed."

McKay spluttered. "Well, they could have been full, and then Danny would have been laughing on the other side of his face..." He paused in surprise on realising what Vala and Teal'c had said, and he looked at the dark-haired woman. "You did?"

Cam slapped his thighs and said, halting a potential argument or teasing spell, "Well, we'd better be off..." He winked at a slightly embarrassed Sam. "Sam's going to want to get a head start on playing 'Nurse' with Jackson." As he stood up, he asked Daniel, "When's Carolyn said you're going home?"

Daniel replied, "Uh, tomorrow. We're apparently on stand-down for a month so I can heal."

"We can afford to do that now that the Ori are gone." Cam reached over to affectionately ruffle Daniel's hair as the Archaeologist scowled at him. "Hope ya get better soon, Jackson."

Daniel smiled slightly as he glanced at his wife. "I'll try to, Mitchell. Thanks."

Vala smiled as she squeezed Daniel's other hand. "Take care, Daniel... because you're not going to be fit for numerous things for a while... like sex with Samantha... and having your stomach leaped on by that adorable little son of yours." She smirked as Daniel reddened, Sam looking guardedly amused. "Hopefully it won't be too long."

Daniel cleared his throat. "Uh, thanks..."

Cam laughed, muttering something about a camera to capture the look on Daniel's face as the Colonel high-fived Vala. McKay gawped at Vala's forthright manner, and he gestured back towards her in disbelief when she stepped into the wider Infirmary with Cam. "Is she always like that?"

Daniel raised his eyebrows as Sam replied with a faint smirk, "Pretty much."

Teal'c stood over Daniel's form. "ValaMalDoran is correct. May you heal faster than normal... as no doubt you will."

"Thanks, Teal'c."

Teal'c nodded at Sam in greeting, the Astrophysicist nodding back, and the Jaffa left for the rest of his friends. McKay said with a clap as he stood up, "Well, that's my cue... I've got to get back to moany-Woolsey anyhow." He pointed at Daniel. "You... heal." He pointed at Sam. "... and you, if you get pregnant again, I'm not sure your curves will be as alluring."

Sam hid her face in embarrassment, forcing herself to not get up to hit the Physicist. Daniel sprung to her defence. "Go home, Rodney."

"Will do, Danny." He paused, suddenly looking concerned as he looked at Sam. "Sam... let me know how he does, okay?" As Daniel raised his eyebrows in surprise at McKay's uncharacteristic upfront concern, Sam smiled.

"Of course I will. Thanks for bringing him home."

McKay left and Cam called to Sam, "Come here a sec, will you, Sam?"

Sam frowned a little, looking at Daniel before getting up and joining her friends on the Infirmary floor, away from her husband's bed. "What's up guys?"

As Vala hung onto a flustered McKay's arm, the alien looking at him in amusement and admittedly fascination, Teal'c said when Cam looked at him, "Ensure that you are sufficiently nourished and rested. You have rejected our offers to lodge in your house to assist you, but that will not prevent us from visiting."

Cam nodded to back Teal'c up and he then gestured to Vala. "Vala's just reminded me. I swear your little boy is nuts. Don't let him jump on Jackson's stomach."

Sam looked amused. "Thanks. I'll stop the little tyke, don't worry." She hugged them both and hesitantly hugged Vala, knowing that the alien was enjoying embarrassing McKay. Her friends said their goodbyes and left the Infirmary. With a thoughtful expression on her face, she returned to Daniel's bedside. She asked as she held Daniel's hand once again, noting in concern that he now looked weary,

"How are you feeling?"

He replied, looking unhappy, "Everything hurts. It hurt to eat a fruit cup in Atlantis."

She smoothed his hair back carefully, hoping that she wasn't hurting him by doing so. She watched him close his eyes with a soft sigh, and she asked, glancing at the food tray that Cam had left on the side, "Do you want to eat something?"

He shook his head. "I'll try tomorrow... it'll hopefully hurt less." He opened his eyes and gazed up at her in worry. "Sam, you don't have to stay here all night."

"Carolyn let me put Jake in one of the isolation rooms for the night. If he wakes up, I'll hear him." Still holding his hand, she rested her head next to his on the pillow with a sigh. "You always find a way to get injured somehow."

He touched her cheek, trying not to grimace at the intense ache in his muscles triggered by the movement. "Well, it was a fifty-fifty chance when we walked into that chamber, although Rodney swore that it was thirty-seventy... although I think he was more worried about himself." He frowned. "Those Asgard were different though."

She looked curious, as though hanging onto a hope of seeing an old friend again. "How did they survive?"

He frowned distastefully. "Experimentation... on humans." He shook his head slightly. "Just like Loki."

She appeared surprised and then sad. "They – our Asgard – could have saved themselves after all?"

"I think they knew that there was always another solution. They just didn't use it as a matter of principle. The High Council punished Loki for what he did." He paused, his gaze distant as he thought of the Asgard that they had known. "To be honest, I would have chosen the same if I'd been in their place. The end cannot justify the means... it's just wrong, especially for something like that. How many lives did they take or ruin by their experimentation? It just seems greedy." He sighed.

She carefully placed an arm over his stomach. "Daniel..."

He gently kissed her. "I know, you'll tell me to stop worrying about something that I have no control over." He sighed again. "It's horrible what they had to go through though... hiding from the Wraith on a planet with a poisonous atmosphere, so I suppose it was desperation more than anything because the Ancients didn't help them... but still..." He raised his eyebrows. "The Expedition probably has another enemy now that Colonel Sheppard destroyed the device. I was kinda hoping that they could help out like our Asgard did before, but that might not be such a good idea... even if they wanted to ally themselves with us."

She hummed in agreement, looking troubled as she reached up to smooth his hair back. "Definitely not if they're going to do something as ridiculous and dangerous as blowing up 'gates..." She looked curious once again. "I would have liked to have got the chance to study the device."

He smiled briefly. "Strangely, or not as the case may be, I was thinking the same thing while I was in the Asgard facility." He stroked her cheek as he appeared disturbed. "According to Rodney, the device creates a type of sub-space turbulence that can disable the hyperdrives of Wraith craft. However, the turbulence creates a very specific type of radiation that has an adverse effect on Stargates... in that any time anyone dials one, power builds up until it overloads. Apparently the entire Pegasus network has been affected. The Expedition replaced their own 'gate with one from yours and Rodney's old 'gate bridge, and they're thinking of replacing 'gates on other worlds with more from the bridge, but Mr Woolsey's not comfortable with that for some reason."

Her eyes had glazed over during his explanation, and he rolled his eyes with a smirk. "Sam?"

She shook herself out of her reverie. "Sorry... but that sounded so fascinating. Rodney and Radek could replicate that technology but..."

He raised an eyebrow at her, knowing that she was getting carried away as she considered many possibilities at the same time. "Sam. It's Ancient technology... Ancient technology that has utterly devastating side effects. It's just too risky... and if we successfully managed to recreate and use the device without those unfortunate side effects, it would constitute genocide."

"It's worth a thought though... as far as disabling their technology goes." She sighed and then said as she gazed at him, overjoyed that he was still alive, "Go to sleep, Daniel."

He groaned in discomfort. "I want to go home. I hate being here." He began to pout. "You're a Colonel... a full Colonel. Surely you can get me out? Carolyn's not even military."

She looked amused. "Daniel... the girl is scary." She frowned. "Okay, so now I'm sounding like Cam." She smiled. "Go to sleep. If you're nice, Carolyn will actually let you go home tomorrow."

He scrunched up his nose. "I don't like being here."

"You know, if you'd said that you enjoy being here, Carter would have to hunt down Hank's daughter and give her a good hiding... which could be fun... to watch."

They both looked up in surprise to see Jack, in civilian clothes, stood at the foot of Daniel's bed. Sam straightened up, saying with a smile as she stood up, "Sir."

Jack rolled his eyes. "Carter... how long have you and Daniel been married?" He held up three fingers briefly. "Three years... and each time you see me, you stand to attention and call me 'Sir'. If you teach your kid to do that, heads are gonna roll."

Sam smiled sheepishly as she sat down again. "Sorry... Jack. Old habits."

Daniel said as Jack's gaze wandered to him, "Jack."

"Daniel. How many lives have you used up this time?"

"You took your time."

"Well, you see, Danny boy..." Jack took a seat on the other side of Daniel's bed. "... D.C. doesn't run around your injury time... otherwise it'd be on vacation for a long, long time. Damn." He glanced at the food tray on the cabinet next to the bed. "You eating that?"

Daniel shook his head and Jack looked at Sam accusingly. "Carter... what have I told you about feeding our Space Monkey?"

She shot him a glare. "You try doing it, Jack. It's hard work when he's not shacked up in the Infirmary."

Jack mimed rolling his sleeves up as Daniel suddenly looked concerned. "Well, kids, this calls for a different approach." He glanced at Sam challengingly. "Watch and learn, Carter."


	3. Chapter 3

At home, Sam sat on the edge of hers and Daniel's bed, the Colonel holding a light-brown haired toddler in her lap. Stopping the boy from poking his father, she watched Daniel sleep, hopeful of his recovery. He had been in so much pain earlier that Carolyn had thought it best to sedate him for the journey from the base to their house. Sam gently smoothed Daniel's hair back and got up as she whispered down to the child in her arms as they left the room,

"Come on, Jakey. Let's let Daddy sleep."

She turned once she had left the room, with the intention of closing the door when she heard a groan from the bed. Frowning a little, she went back into the room as Daniel called tiredly, "Sam?"

She realised that he was about to move, and she said, knowing that he was still in a lot of pain, "Daniel, don't move. I'm here." She returned to the edge of the bed where she had been seated previously, and she asked with a small smile as she touched his face, "How are you feeling?"

He groaned as he closed his eyes. "No comment." He paused and frowned. "I'm hungry."

She remarked, slightly amused, "Jack not enough for you last night?"

He smiled drowsily as he slowly opened his eyes. "He keeps treating me like a kid any time Atlantis is involved."

She scratched her head awkwardly. "Yeah. You should have heard how he dug into me last night. I pointed out that I didn't make you go, but that the research was important nonetheless. He eventually started muttering about what he was going to do to General Landry."

He frowned, looking ready to rip someone's head off despite the pain throughout his body. "He hassled you?"

She smiled, flattered that he was so ready to fight for her. "I would have hassled him too if you'd gone while I was on a mission. Don't worry about it." She leaned forward to kiss him on the forehead and she said softly as she gazed at him lovingly, "Stay here. I'll bring your breakfast up here." He looked as though he was about to get up when she pushed him back down carefully but firmly. "No, stay here. You're in enough pain as it is." She smiled down at Jake as Daniel slowly reached up to hold his son's hand. "Come on, let's go get Daddy's breakfast."

She was about to get up when Jake burst into tears, reaching for his father. Sam said, trying to hold onto the now squirming toddler, "Jake, Daddy's not well right now. You can't jump on him."

The boy still cried and Daniel said, "Honey, just leave him here. I'll be alright. I haven't seen our little power station in what feels like forever." Sam, still concerned, smiled a little as she put Jake down onto the bed, and Daniel smiled as he held his son in his arms. "Hey there, Jakey. How's my little boy?" He kissed the top of the toddler's head and sighed softly, still smiling as Jake babbled at him excitedly, the Archaeologist slowly smoothing his son's hair back.

Sam smiled as she took a moment to watch father and son. She then left the room with a lingering glance, as though reassuring herself that Daniel was really there, and not a mirage.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

In the kitchen, Sam had prepared a breakfast tray to take upstairs when she heard a noise on the stairs. Scared that Jake might have escaped his father and be on the verge of falling down the stairs, she ran out of the kitchen, muttering grumpily about Jacksons and danger going hand-in-hand. However, she didn't see Jake clambering down the stairs. What she did see though still shocked her. Daniel, holding Jake in one arm, used his other arm to support himself as he slowly made his way down the stairs. Sam exclaimed as she rushed to help him,

"Daniel! Which part of 'don't move' did you not get?!"

He shook his head, looking miserable as he tried not to make a wrong move that would worsen his already intense pain. "I don't want to be a burden on you, Sam. It's bad enough that I left you to take care of Jake by yourself, and now I'm injured by something that I should have seen coming." He shook off her hands when she attempted to escort him back upstairs. "No, I'm going downstairs."

Sam sighed at yet another example of his characteristic stubbornness, and she said as she put a supporting arm around his waist as she helped him in his descent of the stairs, "You're not a burden, Daniel, and you never will be." She rubbed his back. "... and if you say one more time that it's your fault you got electrocuted, I'm roping Jack in."

He muttered as they eventually reached the foot of the stairs, "Traitor."

"Well, I can always count on him knowing how to handle you when I can't even begin to." She smirked as she took Jake from him. "I think I should be pissed that he appears to have one up on me in that respect."

He remarked with a cheeky smile as she helped him to the kitchen, "You always know how to handle me."

She retorted good-naturedly as she seated him at the kitchen table, the Colonel holding Jake to her hip as she went about getting breakfast for her husband, "Typical." She placed the food in front of him, and sat next to him as she held a sippy cup for Jake. "Everyone's going to drop in later. Jack took a lot more fending off than usual. I said that you needed the rest."

She sighed as she watched the determined Archaeologist struggling to eat. "Daniel."

He was adamant that he was going to eat breakfast by himself. "I'm fine. What did Jack say?"

Ordinarily, she would look amused at his unwillingness to be helped, but it was concerning her deeply, considering what he had been through in the Pegasus galaxy. Seating Jake on another chair, she moved her chair closer to Daniel's. "I'm not taking 'no' for an answer."

He put his spoon down and looked at her as though to convey that he was annoyed, but she ignored his expression. She spoon-fed him porridge and he eventually smiled, grateful for her help and her ability to see through his frowning exterior that he had taken to using in recent years to protect himself. She sternly glanced at Jake, who was beginning to climb down from his chair. "Jake, get back on that chair, young man... and don't play dumb this time. Mommy doesn't buy giggles."

Jake began to pout as he sat back down, and Daniel groaned in discomfort. "You shouldn't have to do this."

"Well, you have to eat at some point, and I'm not having you losing weight again." She paused, changing the subject as he closed his eyes. "Landry's granted me some leave so I can look after you. I was thinking when Jake takes his mid-morning nap, we could sleep too. That appears to be about the only peaceful time in this house during daylight hours... and everyone will be coming in the evening anyhow."

He murmured weakly, "He gets it from you."

When she had finished feeding him, she said as she washed up while Jake clambered into his father's lap, "I guess you'll have to take a bath instead of a shower seeing as it's too painful for you to be standing up for a long periods of time. When I settle Jake down, I'll do it."

Daniel looked surprised and then hopeful. "You're going to bathe me?"

She rolled her eyes as she dried her hands with a tea towel. "Yes, Daniel. _Bathe_ you. Someone has to."

He made a face and then smiled at his son who giggled in response. "I'm not stinky."

"The hot water will help the aching. We've still got the Radox salts."

"I'd rather sleep."

"Oh no, you're not frowning your way out of this." She walked around the table until she was behind him, and she hugged him around his shoulders, resting her head next to his as she kissed his cheek. "You're going to be okay, Daniel." She affectionately ruffled his hair. "It's just going to take a while."

He groaned softly as he leaned against her. "I hope it doesn't."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sam sat on the floor of the bathroom, next to the bath as a weary looking Daniel lie in it, his eyes closed, his entire body submerged in light greenish-blue water. She reached up to smooth his hair, and she folded her arms on the bath's edge as she watched him, a tender expression on her face. When he moaned in response to the contact, she whispered,

"Feeling better?"

He murmured, eventually smiling as he looked at her, "A little. Thanks."

"Want me to wash your hair yet?"

He groaned in protest, but when she unwaveringly held his gaze, he realised that his protest was in vain. "Uh... I guess... otherwise I'll just fall asleep here."

She smiled as she poured jugs of water over his head, watching him close his eyes and lower his head as he got over the initial shock. She rolled up the sleeves of her sweater and went about applying shampoo to his hair as he groaned again, saying, "You're not making bread... my head's going to be sore."

"At least it'll be clean."

"Are you saying that I can't wash my own hair?"

"No, I'm saying that you're just going to have to sit still and endure your wife washing your hair." She chuckled when he grumbled something in another language, the utterance not sounding at all friendly. "Keep that up and I'm leaving you in here."

"Well, maybe I want to stay here." He paused, making a face as he tentatively peeked at her, hoping that he wasn't going to get shampoo in his eyes. "How much shampoo did you use? I don't have anywhere near as much hair as you do. You could have washed our hair and Jake's, and still have some left over. Honestly."

She shot him a look as she rinsed her hands. "Will you stop fussing? I didn't use that much."

"Did you use your shampoo or mine? I'm going to get funny looks if my hair smells of peach."

She snorted with laughter. "Who smells your hair?" She paused and rolled her eyes. "Apart from the nurses when you're unconscious..."

He frowned. "They smell my hair?"

"Don't ask. Something about a betting pool about which shampoo you use to get it so soft."

He made a face and then smirked. "Just because you're obsessed with me, doesn't mean everyone else is."

She looked amused and admittedly surprised at his cheekiness. She then lightly swatted his head with the back of her hand. "Daniel!?"

"What?"

She shook her head as she began to drain the bath. "Never mind." Without warning, she switched the shower on, and he yelped in surprise before looking at her accusingly. She feigned guilt. "Oops, I forgot to mix it with hot water. Silly me."

"You're mean. I want my Sam back."

She turned one of the taps and stood up to detach the shower head from the clip on the wall. "Let me guess..." She kneeled at the side of the bath as she began to rinse his hair and body. "... I'm supposed to agree with everything you say and treat you like the Saint that you are."

He ended up snorting with laughter and then groaning when the action caused him to be in more pain. She continued to rinse him, and he murmured, his eyes closing, "I want to go to bed." When she finished, she switched the water off, fixing the shower head back onto the wall before proceeding to help him out of the bath.

When she had dried him off, she wrapped the towel around him and hugged him as he muttered, his eyes closed as he rested his head against hers, "I feel like a kid."

She threaded her fingers through his wet hair, and smiled. "Well, sometimes it does feel like I have two kids in the house." She kissed him. "Come on, let's get you into bed." She was about to dress him when he, beginning to shiver, shook his head.

"No, don't."

She looked at him incredulously. "Daniel, you're going to catch cold." Sighing, she remarked as she helped him leave the bathroom, "It's just as well we've got no-one staying over." She couldn't help but chuckle. "I don't think Jack would be able to handle seeing you in the buff again."

He chuckled too as she slipped a supporting arm around his waist. "I've seen his ass more times than I'd like to think about. Maybe he was just jealous of mine." She laughed out loud as they reached their bedroom and she helped him into bed. She was about to join him when he remarked weakly,

"You're going to sleep fully-clothed with your naked husband?"

She rolled her eyes and flashed him a dirty look. "You have such a dirty mind, Daniel."

He simply smiled and she muttered a couple of insults under her breath as she went about undressing as he watched, the Colonel joining him under the blankets. She whispered as she held him when he tried to turn so he could hold her, "Don't move, you'll hurt yourself even more."

He held her gaze for a moment and as she suddenly looked annoyed, knowing what he was going to do, he turned over, ignoring the pain to himself as he held her close to him. He murmured, his eyes closed, his lips against her hair, "I haven't held you for so long... I don't want to miss an opportunity."

"Great," she grumbled. "You're going to be in more pain and it's my fault."

He smiled blissfully as her hand reached back to smooth his hip. "The pain doesn't matter now." He kissed her hair, resting his head against hers with a contented sigh as she too smiled before closing her eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

_Thanks to FlaWolfDog for giving me a little shake re: Radox. For those of you who were scratching your heads at that ref in the last chapter, it's a brand name of herbal foam baths, shower gels, and bath salts here in the UK (and some other places too). Let's just say that our favourite twosome got some Radox on their honeymoon and let's, um, overlook the fact that I managed to overlook the little matter of whether anyone else had heard of it in researching for this fic. lol_

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sam lie on the couch with a slumbering Daniel in her arms, the TV murmuring in the background as Jake played with his toys. She smoothed her husband's hair as she felt his slow breaths through the fabric of her blouse. She smiled when Jake stood up and waved a piece of paper, showing her a mass of multicoloured squiggles and blobs as he beamed at her. He looked as though he was about to speak when Sam put a finger to her lips. Jake nodded and mimicked her before looking at his father curiously. He was about to prod Daniel's eyes when Sam whispered,

"Jake, sit down."

Jake turned around and walked a little unsteadily back to where he had been playing and Sam almost breathed a sigh of relief that Daniel hadn't been woken up. The Archaeologist had had trouble sleeping due to the pain but had refused to let Carolyn administer painkillers to him. Sam could only hope that hot baths and naps like this would help him somehow.

She looked up as she heard the front door unlock, and moments later, Jack and the rest of SG-1 filed into the lounge, each of them looking down at the Jacksons curiously as Jake, forgetting that he was supposed to be quiet, got over-excited on seeing his uncles and aunt. Jack remarked as Daniel stirred from the noise of a squealing Jake as Cam swung the toddler around,

"Space Monkey not sleeping well?"

Sam replied softly as she soothed Daniel back to sleep, gently rubbing his back, "He slept for a couple of hours earlier but then the pain got too much."

"That's what he told you." Jack smirked mischievously as he wandered over to Jake, picking the boy up and Daniel began to stir once again. Sam gently kissed his forehead, whispering as Vala watched the scene with interest until Cam nudged her into looking away,

"Sshh, go back to sleep, Daniel."

Daniel groaned as he shifted, muttering with a frown, "For cryin' out loud, Rodney..."

As Sam tried to hide a smile, Jack and the rest of her friends turned around in surprise at the utterance. Teal'c remarked, smirking in Jack's direction as the General's eyebrows slowly rose and fell, "It would appear that DanielJackson is more influenced by O'Neill than he would be willing to admit."

Jack muttered, looking a little spooked, "No sh..."

Forgetting that Daniel was meant to be asleep, Sam exclaimed as she glanced in Jake's direction, "Jack!"

Jack rolled his eyes. "... sugar."

Vala asked, looking curiously at Jack, "Don't you have any sugar?"

Cam hid a smile and then joked as Daniel stirred even more, "Our boy's awake. Defensive positions, everyone."

Jack shot back, glaring at a nonchalant Cam as the others smirked, "Hey, who's the General here?"

Daniel groaned. "Jack... you don't like being 'the Man'."

"We-hell, knew you weren't asleep. Any excuse to sleep on Carter like that. Must have been nice."

Before a grumpy Daniel could make a biting retort, Sam shot back, an eyebrow raised, "Jack, shut up."

"Excuse me?"

Sam feigned an expression of innocence as Daniel muttered, his eyes closed, "You heard her. Shut up."

"See, this is why I stuck to the whole 'Sir' thing. Damn civilians and their contagious disrespect for rank..." Jack stalked off to the kitchen as Jake bounded after him. Sam continued to smooth Daniel's hair, knowing that he was awake now, even if his eyes were closed.

As Vala kneeled in front of the couch to look at Daniel, Teal'c asked, "How is DanielJackson faring?"

Sam replied softly as she gazed down at her husband, "He's having trouble sleeping through a lot of the pain but he won't take drugs for it."

Cam remarked with a chuckle, "Hardly a surprise."

Vala smoothed Daniel's head and almost fell backwards in surprise when he suddenly opened his eyes. She whacked his shoulder. "Daniel! I never had you down as mischievous..."

Daniel murmured, grimacing at the pain from where she had hit him before he smiled a little, "There's a time and a place for it. One time and place in particular."

Vala shook her head in disbelief and stood up, wandering into the kitchen on seeing Jack with a cookie jar and an excited toddler. Teal'c asked an amused Sam as Daniel closed his eyes again, "Do you require anything, ColonelJackson?"

Sam shook her head and she smiled a little. "I'm fine, Teal'c. Thanks." She glanced at Daniel. "It's pretty peaceful here." She called into the kitchen, seeing Jake standing on the kitchen top as he, Jack and Vala peeked into the cookie jar that Jack had found, "Jack, I'll set Daniel on you if Jake has another sugar rush."

Daniel groaned again. "I'm not a dog."

Jack sarcastically called back as he reached into the jar, "Yeah, nice. Threaten me with a man who would take two hours to reach the kitchen in his present state. I'm quaking in my boots, Carter. That has got to be the scariest thing you've ever threatened me with that wasn't one of those little Carter family glares."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Later that night, Sam stood alone in the dark by the lounge window. She looked down at something in her hand and she began to cry quietly. It hadn't quite sunk in before that Daniel had truly believed that he was going to die. She knew that it must have taken a lot for him to believe that, especially after everything that he had experienced over the past decade or so, including at least more than one death. This realisation reawakened some very old fears that she thought that she had dealt with. What would happen if she did lose him permanently? The thought itself seemed like a brick wall that blocked her view of anything beyond it.

"Sam?"

Quickly drying her eyes, she turned around, seeing Daniel's outline in the doorway. "Daniel! What are you doing here? You should be in bed."

She saw him slowly approach her, becoming a little more visible by the light of the moon shining through the window. He touched her cheek when he stood next to her. "I should be saying the same thing to you. What's wrong?"

She shook her head and turned to look out of the window. "Nothing."

"Sam..."

She shook her head once again and looked at him. "Daniel, go to bed. You shouldn't even be up. You're not well." Her voice began to waver as her eyes filled with tears once more as she lost control of her emotions. She sniffed and tried to turn away from him, but he held her in his arms.

He whispered, inwardly upset at her demeanour as he rested his cheek against her head, "Sam, please don't hide from me. It never worked all the other times you tried it." She began to sob uncontrollably as she hugged him tight. "Sam. Tell me what's wrong."

"You thought you were going to die."

Not requiring clarification or an explanation, he said, feeling guilty, "Oh."

"I don't want to lose you, Daniel."

"I don't want to lose you either." He sighed, his voice sounding congested. "Sam... I don't know what to say to stop you from crying. Things happen. I'm not saying that I like it, because I don't. And you know what scared me the most while I was in that facility? It wasn't the device or the Asgard, it was the thought that I'd never see you again... that I would never see our little boy again... so believe me when I say that giving Rodney my wedding band was a last resort... a very last resort. I didn't like having to deal with that possibility... but I didn't have much of a choice."

She sniffed, her sobs gradually slowing. "It's just hard whenever you go anywhere by yourself, especially being all too aware of your reputation as a trouble magnet."

He looked helpless. "I don't know what to say to make this all better."

She shook her head. "Don't. Just stay here." She chuckled briefly as she rested her head against his shoulder. "Or maybe sit down before I hurt you even more." She escorted him into the kitchen, both squinting at first when she put the light on. She seated him in a chair as he looked at her, worried, and she went to dry her eyes.

He watched her as she leaned against a worktop, and he said, shaking his head a little, "Sam, you're doing too much. You shouldn't be cooped up here looking after me. I'll be fine. You should go back to work. I can take care of Jake."

She looked at him oddly. "Don't be silly, Daniel. You're not fit enough... and to tell you the truth... _again_... you are most definitely not a burden. I'm just upset because I don't want to lose you but as always, I've got to just accept that it's a possibility and just cherish every moment that we have together."

"Don't talk like that. We're doing okay; we're doing good. I'll admit that we do have weird jobs..."

She finally smiled. "Tell me about it." She leaned back, looking up at the ceiling for a moment before looking at him once more. "I'm sorry. I think I needed that... you know, the cry. It just feels like I'm trying to be strong..."

He smiled slightly at her self-depreciation. "Sam, you're the strongest person I know."

She looked sceptical. "Yeah. In a mountain full of far more experienced soldiers, suddenly I'm the strongest... Luckily for you, I'm flattered." She paused and sighed. "Sometimes it just feels as though I'm holding things together for the sake of it."

He was about to get up but thought better of it when she raised an eyebrow at him. "You know, you Air Force officer, you... I said that you could talk to me."

"I know and I do... it's just that you've been gone a couple of days and I'm a raving lunatic right now." She pulled up a chair next to his and sat down. She then reached for his left hand and slipped his wedding band back onto his ring finger, covering up a tan line in the process.

He looked down at it and remarked quietly, looking thoughtful, "I felt naked without that." He smiled when she kissed him, and he said with a mischievous smile as he lightly patted his knees, "Come and sit here."

She laughed softly, looking a little awkward. "Daniel..."

"No-one's here."

She shook her head. "It's not that and you know it."

He shrugged. "Hey, I'm in a lot of pain. I doubt whether I could be in more pain, so I'm sure I can manage a heavy Astrophysicist..." He winced when she punched him in the arm. "Ah! I was wrong... _that's_ more pain."

She suddenly looked guilty and admittedly a little scared for his wellbeing. "Daniel! Oh my God, I'm sorry!"

He rubbed his arm, frowning. "You know, that really hurt."

She rolled her eyes. "I did say that I was sorry."

He smiled slightly. "Well, you might as well come here now. I don't think sitting on me is going to hurt anywhere near as much." He muttered as he closed his eyes. "Ow."

"Daniel, you are such a ham."

He made a face. "I am not. Define 'ham'."

She grinned. "Easy. 'Daniel Jackson'."

"I don't like you now."

"... which means you liked me before, so I'm tickled pink." She got up and sat on his lap as he held her, and she rested her head against his as she held onto him. She sighed softly as he nuzzled her throat. "You should be in bed, Daniel. I'm not happy about you being here like this... and Jack is going to kill me when he finds out."

"Well, he's always trying to get me into bed, so I wouldn't really think too much about that." She smiled as she smoothed his chest and he kissed her hair, whispering, "I'll go in a minute." He closed his eyes. "I like having you here."


	5. Chapter 5

_Sorry for the short chapter here. For some reason I had trouble writing it. Hopefully a longer update next time._

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Having finished most of the housework, a tired Sam, with Jake on her hip, crept into her room while Daniel soundly slept. She kicked off her shoes and grabbed her son when he made to clamber over his father. She whispered with a hint of desperation when he looked as though he was going to cry, "Sssh, Daddy's sleeping, and Mommy would like to sleep... She would like that a lot right now especially after you managed to coat yourself and half the kitchen with rice pudding." She touched the tip of his nose affectionately and he eventually smiled at her. "Nap-time."

She, still fully-dressed, lie down behind Daniel as she held Jake in her arms. The little boy squirmed and she rubbed his back. "You can scream and dance later." She groaned wearily as she closed her eyes for a moment. "I'm getting too old for this." She reached over to smooth the hair around Daniel's ear, and then she rubbed his shoulder, arm and waist. She closed her eyes as Jake finally stopped wiggling about, and she whispered as she held him a little tighter, "Thank you, my little man."

She was about to drift off when she felt movement next to her. She opened her eyes to see an awake Daniel who was now facing her. He touched her cheek tenderly. "Sam, you're doing too much. Just because I'm recovering doesn't mean you have to do everything." He smiled when Jake patted his head and he held his son's hand. "... I wouldn't mind if you stayed here with me."

Her gaze dropped as she sighed. "Daniel... you know I can't do that. The house would go to hell and..." She smiled at Jake as he peeked at her from her chest. "... our little power station would help." She looked at Daniel. "How are you feeling now?"

He smiled a little. "The sleep helped. Still hurts a lot, but not as much."

She kissed him. "That's good." She closed her eyes and turned towards him when he wrapped an arm around her waist. He gently kissed her, brushing stray tendrils of hair from her face.

"Go to sleep."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sam woke up with a start, finding that not only Jake had gone, but Daniel too. She frowned on noticing that she was dressed in her pyjamas and under the blankets. Throwing the blankets off as she got scared for her husband's welfare, she rushed out of the room, calling, "Daniel?" Hearing the faint sound of giggling from downstairs, she flew down the stairs and into the lounge, seeing Daniel look up at her in surprise from the floor as he held Jake in his lap, the Archaeologist helping his son to hold a book.

Relieved to see that he was well, but annoyed nonetheless that he was up, she exclaimed, "Daniel!"

He said softly as he looked down at Jake, "Sam, calm down."

She stalked into the lounge. "No, don't tell me to calm down!" She said in a quieter tone of voice as she sat down next to him, "Anything could have happened."

He smiled slightly as he gazed at her, grateful that she cared about him so much. "But nothing did. I'm fine. You of all people should know that it's just like a more intense form of the pain you get when you overdo things at the gym."

She rested her head against his shoulder with a weary sigh. "But when it comes to you, I'm never sure." He smiled as he kissed the top of her head and went back to reading to Jake, who clapped, giggled and frowned during various parts of the story as his father slowly smoothed his hair. A few moments later, he gazed at her as he said, "There's dinner in the oven too if you want it."

She looked at him in disbelief. "Daniel... please don't tell me that you've been cooking in your state."

He shrugged a little as he looked down at the book that Jake held. "I'm fine."

She closed her eyes, looking shocked. "Oh God." She looked at him. "Daniel... you really shouldn't be doing this. If I find out that you've been cleaning, I'm really going to get mad at you."

He smiled as he kissed her, the Archaeologist looking cheeky. "Oh Sam... like that's going to happen. You're too obsessed with me to actually get mad at me. That's why you married me... to you, I'm nothing but a fully-poseable action figure and doll rolled into one."

She rolled her eyes. "You're just lucky Jake's here otherwise you'd have hell to pay."

He smiled at her sweetly and then said to Jake when he looked up at his father impatiently, "Mommy's obsessed with me, isn't she?" Daniel nodded. "Yes, she is."

Jake grinned and nodded, and Sam remarked, "So do we have a Jackson men conspiracy here? You know... you should never annoy the person who cooks your dinner."

"Likewise."

"Jake doesn't cook me dinner... otherwise I'd be eating Play Dough, raw macaroni and crayons."

Daniel pretended to look offended. "Hey, but I cook you dinner... sometimes."

Sam affectionately ruffled his hair. "And surprisingly well, I might add."

"Hey!"

She shrugged. "Well, you do... when you're concentrating." She kissed him on the cheek as Jake loudly protested as he looked up at his parents. Sam smirked as she smoothed Jake's hair. "Sorry Jakey... you're all left out." She kissed him on the top of his head and then Daniel followed suit as Jake beamed. "I could never forget you." She smiled as she touched the toddler's cheek and she asked Daniel as he watched her. "Dinner?"

"If you don't want to go back to bed."

"Like I'm going to do that with you still down here by yourself. And besides, I'm hungry." She took Jake from him and stood up, helping him to stand as Jake played with her hair. "How are you doing?"

Daniel smiled as he tenderly kissed her. "Much better."


	6. Chapter 6

_Sorry for not updating in a wee while... have had quite a bit on this week what with a death anniversary, emotional and financial hoo-hahs, and worrying about degree certificates, graduation and a new job. Hopefully there'll be a shorter gap between this chapter and the next. Thanks for being so patient. :o)_

_Thanks to SSK_Productions for giving me a brilliant idea. You rock. :D_

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sam, though concerned that Daniel was walking, couldn't help but grin on watching Jake follow his father around everywhere, the toddler attempting to mimic his stride and hand gestures. When the boy stumbled, falling on his backside, she quickly got up before Daniel could bend down, and she picked her now whimpering son up, remarking to Daniel,

"He's been the man of the house all the time you were in Atlantis." She smiled as she rubbed Jake's back. "He even whined at me more than usual each time I tried to get him to go to bed."

Daniel pretended to look offended. "I do not whine!"

She rolled her eyes. "Puh-lease... you could win gold for whining at the next Olympics." She grabbed his hand, leading him towards the back door. "Seeing as you refuse to stop walking around the house, let's go outside." He made a face but quickly smiled when she turned to glare at him. She laughed, shaking her head a little as she seated him on the patio, covering him up with a blanket. "I don't even have to look at you to know which face you're pulling."

"Well, if I pulled Jake's face, you'd know about it because the little monkey wouldn't stop screaming."

"Like that's out of the ordinary."

She sat down in front of his chair, resting her head against his knee as she held Jake in her lap. She glanced up when she felt Daniel hold her hair, the Colonel smiling contentedly on seeing that he was playing with the long strands. She asked as she bounced Jake in her hold, "Is it still hurting less?"

Daniel nodded and then realised that she wasn't looking at him. He replied, the faintest of smiles on his face as he watched Jake beam up at his mother, "Yeah. Walking's not as painful as it used to be... and I'd like to get the practice before my mad wife ties me to a kitchen chair."

They watched as Jake clambered down from his mother's lap, the toddler stumbling towards his tricycle. Sam said softly, tears beginning to prick her eyes as she watched the boy cycle around in the grass, "Well, at least you're safe." She smiled again as she decided to focus on the positive rather than the negative, and she closed her eyes as Daniel continued to play with her hair during a particularly peaceful moment while Jake imitated a motorbike engine.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"That is definitely not true."

Under a blanket later that evening, Daniel sat in Sam's arms on the floor in front of the couch as they watched television. She frowned a little and asked, glancing at the TV screen and then at her frowning husband, "What isn't?"

His eyes still on the screen, he said, "That first wives do whatever their husbands want and have a tonne of children, and that second wives are generally the smarter ones who don't have as many children." He paused, mentally thinking back over what he had said and he shook his head as he looked up at Sam. "You're the smartest person I know. It's just the first part that got me." He sighed as he remembered over the years since he had become involved with the Stargate, from that very first mission. He leaned back in her embrace as she looked at him in concern. "Sha're would never let me get away with just anything. She would physically drag me away from my wanderings... and laugh at me when I tried to do what the Abydonians saw as 'women's' work. She even chewed me out for coming home late... so Joan Rivers is wrong."

Sam held him tighter as she rested her head against his. "Well, she's just making generalisations." She smiled, wanting to cheer him up. "She's right about second wives though." Her smile wavered a little. "... although us only having Jake wasn't a conscious choice." She shook her head a little, shaking herself out of some uncomfortable thoughts as he held her hand, and she smiled a little more as she glanced down at the rings on her left hand. "Not sure where she gets that about Catholic women having crappy rings though."

He chuckled softly. "I think it depends on whether the man's Catholic too."

She laughed. "You're still sore because I wanted to get married in Church."

He looked up at her cheekily. "Well, you see, my personal beliefs aside, my Mom... and Nick were Lutherans. It would have been interesting if they'd been around then." He looked increasingly thoughtful, and she smoothed his hair back as she remembered the less than desirable circumstances in which she had seen Daniel's parents.

She gently kissed his brow. "Well, that certainly would have been interesting."

He suddenly turned to gaze at her. "Sam..." He squeezed her hand. "It doesn't matter... about us having one kid. Jake is like five kids rolled into one anyhow."

She shrugged a little. "But, you know, it would have been nice... so Jake has someone to play with until he starts school."

"We could always put him into pre-school again... although..." He made a face. "... he got bored pretty quickly because he's already beyond what they're teaching."

She laughed a little on seeing the frown on his face, and she said, kissing his cheek, "Not bad for someone who isn't even three yet. You know, they did offer special tuition."

"But that would have separated him from the other kids. I thought you didn't want him to be an outcast like we were at school."

She sighed. "Honey, he's already got an IQ of a hundred and sixty-three. He's never going to truly fit in."

"Well, he's doing fine as he is. He plays around with the neighbourhood kids. It's not the best, but it'll do until he's old enough to go to school."

"If Daddy's anything to go by... he will have made friends with everyone on the first day." She kissed him gently and he shifted in her arms.

He murmured as he closed his eyes, "Maybe... or maybe he'll get a detention for antagonising the teachers like his Uncle Jack... or getting into a fight like Mommy..."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sam stood alone in the bathroom, holding onto the sink with one hand as she shook a plastic wand in her other hand. She did so with the expression of a person who had done the same thing for a long time but with no positive results. She was about to toss the wand into the bin with a resigned sigh when her eyes widened in shock. She looked as though she was about to faint and she held onto the sink tighter to steady herself. It couldn't be. She closed her eyes and began to cry quietly. She shook her head and straightened up. She had received false positives before which had sent her running around the house in excitement, only to later find out that she wasn't actually pregnant. With this bitter experience in mind as well as memories of having tried so many times for another child, she couldn't help but cry even harder.

She didn't hear the tapping on the door or Daniel call her name. She lost track of time and space until she found herself in a warm embrace, and she began to sob uncontrollably.

Perplexed and hurt to see her in that condition, Daniel, noticing the wand, gently took it from her and whispered as he set it down, "Sam... you've got to stop doing this to yourself." He held her tighter. "If it happens, it happens, but if it doesn't... there's not a lot that we can do about it." He quickly wiped away a tear that fell from his eyes as he too remembered how hard it had been to conceive Jake.

She said between sobs, "Other women manage to get pregnant so easily... Mrs Norton from number twenty-three... her granddaughter has had three babies in four years, and she's expecting another one."

"Oh God, Sam... you don't want a baby a year, trust me."

"It's more than we have now."

She sighed, and he remarked, glancing at the wand which now sat on a shelf, "I don't even know why you keep buying those tests. We could have gone on vacation with all that money."

She sniffed. "I've noticed that I'm a little more emotional just lately..."

"You keep doing this to yourself every month." He held her face in his hands, silently forcing her to meet his gaze. "Sam. Listen to me. You've got to stop buying pregnancy tests. You're just torturing yourself." He held her in his arms as her face fell once again and he asked in a quieter tone of voice, tears in his eyes, "How about IVF? It's going to be expensive, but we've both got money stashed away."

She shook her head as she held onto him. "Daniel... we're saving for our honeymoon... and Jake's college fund... and we've only just managed to clear the mortgage."

"It's not like we don't have well-paid jobs." He kissed her hair. "If you're serious about having another baby, we could go down that route." He smiled slightly. "We could end up having more than one baby though. We'll never sleep 'til we're in our sixties."

She chuckled softly through her tears, and he picked up the wand with the intention of throwing it away when she put her hand on his arm, stopping him. He looked at her quizzically and she said, trying to compose herself, "Don't."

He touched her cheek. "Sam..."

"No... I know you don't want me going on hunches again and getting hurt, but I have to get some closure."

He kissed her, looking reluctant. "Okay, but..."

She smiled at him sadly, putting a finger to his lips to silence him. "I know."

She ushered him out of the bathroom and he closed the door behind him. He waited outside, his back against the door, and he heard footfalls ascending the stairs. He looked up to see Jack, who asked, inclining his head towards the bathroom behind the Archaeologist,

"That time of the month again?"

Daniel scrunched up his nose. "Yeah."

"You shouldn't be up. Get some rest... I'll stand guard."

Daniel shook his head. "No."

Jack was about to rebuke him but decided against it on seeing the concerned expression on his friend's face. Instead he said, "You talked about doing it another way?"

Daniel nodded, looking away briefly. "Yeah. I guess we'll talk about it again later. Sam's not going to be in a fit emotional state to do anything for a little while."

Jack, his hands in his pockets, nodded as he looked grim. "Yeah." He nodded towards the door again. "How long she been in there?"

"Not long."

After a few minutes, both men turned to face the door when the handle moved. The door opened to reveal a crying Sam who stood desolately in the doorway. Daniel pressed his lips together to stop himself from crying as he gathered her in his arms, whispering, "It's okay, Sam. It's okay."

She whispered, sniffing, "Daniel..."

"No, it's okay. Just go and have a lie down. I've got Jack to watch me like a hawk and make sure I..."

She shook her head and released herself from his embrace. She held the wand out to him as though it was a baby itself, a very small baby, and she whispered shakily, crying again as she did so, "It's positive."

As Jack's eyebrows shot up, the General quietly stepping back so he wouldn't impose, Daniel stared at Sam and then at the wand. He slowly reached for it, stunned as he said, "You mean..."

She nodded, finally smiling through her tears, and he quickly hugged her as he began to cry too. She closed her eyes as she held onto him. "We're going to be parents again."

He kissed her softly as he gazed at her, both now unable to stop smiling. Rational thought kicked in however. "You've got to get checked out at the SGC... just to make sure. I mean..." He hated himself the second her face fell. He touched her cheek. "It wouldn't be fair on you if we were in the mindset that we were having a baby, and it turned out that this was just another false positive."

She sniffed as she rested her head against his shoulder, the Astrophysicist looking strained. He rested his head against hers and whispered as he kissed her ear, "I love you."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Vala found Daniel seated alone in the observation room of the Infirmary as he read a book, the Archaeologist looking worried. She sat down next to him and he glanced up at her, noticing her presence but returning his troubled gaze back to his book. "Hey."

"Hey yourself. You know, for someone who might be having another child, you're rather worried."

He shook his head, his gaze not moving from the book. "I'm more worried about what this is doing to Sam. I don't think she'll be able to take another negative after this."

"Well, just be thankful that you have one child, who isn't evil."

He put his book down and looked at her finally. "Vala..."

She shook her head and looked down into the Infirmary, at nothing. "No, I know... it wasn't my fault. It was the Ori. But through everything, that murderous little tyke was... is my daughter." He placed a supporting hand over hers, and she turned to him. "How are you feeling? You've been up and about these past few days and Samantha hasn't complained as much."

He shrugged and smiled slightly at the thought of wife's protectiveness of him. "I've been feeling a lot better, thanks. Sam's just been worried about me."

"Well... that is understandable..." She smirked. "How many times have you gone missing during your three years of marriage alone?"

He grimaced, grudgingly accepting that she had a valid point. "Yeah."

She smiled. "It's all working out for you two... you're healing well, and you might be having another child... who will be as stunning and wily as his aunt..." She ran her hands down her waist suggestively and he rolled his eyes.

"Vala..."

She looked amused. "You know, you're fun to tease. That's why that little boy of yours does half the things that he does."

He frowned as he looked down into the Infirmary, having not seen Sam for a while, and only just seeing Carolyn. He was already about to get up when the doctor looked up and waved, signalling for him to come back down to the Infirmary. Vala asked, glancing cautiously at where he was looking and then at him, hoping that he wasn't having hallucinations or visions again,

"Daniel?"

He shot out of his chair and ran out of the room as she wondered whether the SGC should have him electronically tagged. She sighed as she settled back into her chair, surmising that perhaps Carolyn required him for whatever reason.

Daniel, meanwhile, sprinted flat out, almost falling headlong down flights of steps, and sending a few personnel almost flying. He quickly apologised to the stunned Nurse that he had bowled over as he sped into the Infirmary, and a quietly amused Carolyn gestured towards a curtained-off section of the Infirmary. Nodding in thanks, he eventually slowed to a quick walk as he approached the curtain, dread inexplicably rising in his throat as he momentarily thought that maybe Sam was sick.

He entered the curtained area, keeping the curtain as it was so that they could have some privacy. He found her sat on a gurney, her shoulders hunched, her back to him. He asked, slowly walking to that side of the gurney, "Sam?" He sat down and put an arm around her, shaking his head a little on seeing that she was crying again. He was about to offer words of comfort when she looked up at him and smiled shakily after a long moment.

"Daniel... I'm pregnant. We're going to have another baby."

He stared at her again, unable to believe his ears. He asked, looking stunned, "A-a-are you s-sure?"

She nodded as she sniffed, wiping her eyes. "A hundred percent. Jake's going to have a little brother or sister."

The news suddenly sank in. He grinned and hugged her tightly, whispering as he began to cry for the second time that day. "Congratulations!" He laughed as he kissed her repeatedly and she laughed too, making a feeble attempt to stop him as they both silently hoped that this wasn't one long-drawn out dream.


	7. Chapter 7

Daniel stood in the hallway of their house, his eyes closed as he raised his face to the ceiling, a look of muted frustration on his face. As he did this, a concerned yet determined looking Sam fussed over him, putting his coat on and ensuring that he was wearing enough clothes. He sighed and physically stopped her from wrapping a scarf around his neck as he eventually opened his eyes to look at her.

"Sam." He folded the scarf that he now held, the Archaeologist looking to tread very carefully, knowing how fiercely protective his wife was of him, even if he was the one doing the perceived neglecting. "It's not snowing. It's eighty degrees out there." He couldn't help but look as though she was forcing him to dress as an Eskimo in the stifling heat of summer. "I'm not even hurting that much any more. I'm fine. I can walk. I've been walking for days."

She shook her head with a sigh and took the scarf from him, silently wrapping it around his neck as he rolled his eyes and proceeded to close them, the Archaeologist going to his happy place to stop himself from snapping at her. She straightened his glasses and caressed his cheek, inwardly smiling as she considered how she could almost always win a silent argument with her usually outspoken husband. He gazed at her, showing her with his eyes that he was grateful for her care, and he asked in a soft voice as they glanced at Jake playing on the floor of the lounge,

"How are you feeling?" He wrapped his arms around her, holding her close to him as she rested her head against his shoulder, her arms firmly around his waist. She smiled a little.

"I'm fine... just like the last one hundred times you asked me this morning alone."

He pressed a tender kiss to the base of her neck. "I'm worried about you. You insist on taking care of both me and Jake, and the house... _and_ the occasional work issue... not forgetting the scuffle we had yesterday when you wouldn't come out from under your car..."

Still holding onto him, she said, sounding defensive, "Hey! I had work to do on it. Never mind Cam... but _I_ would laugh at me if I paid a mechanic to replace struts. It didn't take that long."

"It took three hours!"

"Which isn't long, believe me." She smiled as she closed her eyes. "Hmm. Come on, let's go otherwise we'll be here all day with you arguing with everything I say."

He smiled instead of arguing with her, and he nuzzled her jaw, his hand smoothing her flat stomach. "I'm just putting it down to the hormones."

She laughed a little as she gently whacked his shoulder. "I'd put _your_ peculiarities down to hormones, but you're always like this."

His kisses slowly advanced up her neck, towards her ear lobe. "Well, you see, that's why you married me. You must have known what you were letting yourself in for."

One of her hands moved from his waist to the back of his neck as they kissed, and she replied with a blissful smile as she looked up at him, "I did." He smiled back at her, his cheeks reddening a little, and she took his hand, saying, "Come on... let's go before the mall closes."

She went into the lounge and crouched down next to Jake as he sang while banging a plastic cup against a book. She said as she touched his hair tenderly, "Let's go Jakey. Time to go shopping." She spotted his coat, forgotten on the floor behind the boy, and she remarked as she took the cup from him, carefully putting him into his coat, "You can't do that on the ride over. Mommy's going to get a headache, and Daddy will try to translate that rhythm. Do you want me to tell you about wave form harmonics again?"

Daniel muttered with a smirk from the doorway, "He's too young to scowl at you."

She smiled sweetly at the Archaeologist. "Well, at least Jake doesn't go into a daze when I explain things to him."

"Well... for the reasons why _I _appear to you to go into a daze, I'm very glad... and relieved that he doesn't."

She grinned as she picked Jake up, smiling at her son as he sang to himself, lost in his own little world. She kissed him on the cheek and said, taking Daniel's hand when she shifted Jake so that she held him to her hip with one arm, "Let's go, Jacksons."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

As she drove, Sam periodically glanced in her rear-view mirror and frowned on spotting something. Daniel glanced at her in concern, noticing this, and he asked when she silently took a different route to where they were going, "Sam?" He noticed that she continued to frown, her teeth digging into her lower lip as she concentrated more than usual.

She glanced in the rear-view mirror and said quietly, "That black Chrysler has been following us since Academy Boulevard."

He strained to look behind him, quickly making sure that Jake was alright, and ignoring the pain in his shoulder that the movement worsened. He then looked at Sam. "Do you recognise the plates?"

She shook her head, her eyes focussed on the road. "No."

He reached for his phone, the Archaeologist looking worried. "Do you want me to call the base?"

"Not just yet. While we're moving and out in the open, we're safe."

He readied his phone so that he could ring the SGC immediately when required. "Any idea who it is?"

She shook her head. "You don't want to know what I think."

"I always want to know what you think."

She fought the temptation to roll her eyes as she turned another corner. "Those flirts... not a good idea if I hit you while I'm driving."

He feigned innocence as he shrugged. "What? I was telling the truth." He turned around and frowned as he looked out of the rear window again. "Who would want to stalk us now? We've got all the cool stuff out of the way. They've had twelve years to do this... okay, so they have on several occasions, but you know what I mean. Why now?"

She nodded as she quietly pulled over, trying not to look worried as she turned to look at Daniel. "Daniel. Take Jake and get out of the car."

He looked affronted as she secured the car. "I'm not leaving you."

"Believe me, it isn't easy telling you that."

"I know... but even so... I'm not leaving you."

She nodded in defeat, knowing just how stubborn he was, and she looked down as he reached for her hand. She then flicked a switch which locked all of the doors. She glanced back at Jake and said softly when he looked around himself in confusion, ready to cry as he sensed the swift downturn in atmosphere, "Jake. Everything's going to be okay. Just sit still for Mommy, okay? My brave little man."

She looked in the rear view mirror, spotting the car that had been following them parked several cars behind them. She closed her eyes and reached for Daniel's phone, about to call the number on the screen when there was a tap on her window, making her jump. She quickly passed the phone to Daniel, murmuring,

"Daniel, take Ja..." She trailed off on seeing none other than Jack smirking through the glass at her. She couldn't help but mutter a swear word as she switched off the central locking, opening her door as she said, embarrassed and annoyed, "Jack!"

At that moment, Jake burst into tears and Sam got out of the car, opening Jake's door. She removed him from his child seat and held him close as he screamed and blubbered. Jack said, raising his hands placatingly when Sam glared at him,

"Come on, can't Uncle Jack visit any more?"

Daniel retorted frustratedly as he struggled a little to get out of the car and to join his wife and friend, "Not if you scare our boy like that. What the hell were you thinking?"

Sam hushed Jake, who now whimpered, and Jack snapped, "Hey, enough with the glaring... I was checking on you guys."

"Most people ring or visit."

"Well... I'm not most people."

"I gathered."

Jack shook his head and said to Sam, "Hey, Carter... sorry about that. Just making sure that you and Daniel were doing okay... you know, you being up the duff, and Daniel still being classified as 'whumped'." He took Jake from Sam, muttering with a frown when some clear-ish fluid slowly dropped onto the front of his shirt from the boy's nose, "Ah. I don't miss this." Sam, hiding a smile, got a tissue out of her pocket and mopped her son's face, and Jack looked at Jake as the little boy looked up at him with wide eyes. "You learn that screaming from your Dad?" Jack smiled as Sam discreetly reached for Daniel's hand. "Daddy whines a lot, doesn't he? Yes, he does." Daniel scowled as Jake eventually offered his uncle a toothy smile.

Daniel sighed and then said, raising his eyebrows briefly, "Well, while we're all here, let's go somewhere."

Jack smiled as he tickled Jake's nose. "Good idea. I can keep a better eye on you then."

Sam looked offended. "Jack!"

Jack looked at her, his tone sarcastic. "Yeah. Carter. Great job. If you're being followed, don't ring the base, don't do anything but weave through Springs, and then stop with your injured husband and young son in the car." He shook his head. "Haven't I taught you anything? Call the base, get Walter to ID the plate, and then form some wily plan that ends up with you stalking me. Jeez, honestly... you Jacksons have lost your touch."

Sam smiled and linked arms with her former commanding officer after locking up the car. "Nice to see you again, Jack."

Daniel asked, glancing over at the black car that had been following them, "What's with the new car?"

Jack shrugged. "Thought I'd scare you guys seeing as I missed last Halloween. Man, you scare me half the time anyway." He looked at Jake, who now played with the General's shirt, and he said, "Let's roll, kids."

As they walked into the nearest coffee house, Jack asked, glancing at Daniel, "How's tricks?"

Daniel replied, "I'm fine, Jack. It hurts a lot less."

"Good. Carter's taking good care of you. You should be grateful... I would have killed you after the first whine."

Daniel smiled slightly at Sam as Jack picked their seats. "I am."


	8. Chapter 8

Daniel leaned against the wall adjacent to the bathroom door, Jake in his arms. He attempted to put the little boy on the ground, but each time he did so, Jake whimpered and clung onto him tighter. The Archaeologist smiled at his son and tickled his nose as the boy squirmed and then sneezed. Daniel flinched and then grimaced as he felt a sloppy spray of snot on his face, and he remarked as Jake then took the opportunity to rest his head on his father's shoulder, Daniel mopping both of their faces with some tissue,

"You never do that over Mommy." He smiled slightly as he bounced Jake. "Just as well. Never annoy the person who dresses you and makes most of your meals. Remember that, okay, Junior?" He tenderly kissed Jake on the forehead and rested his head back against the wall. He called as he, highly concerned, looked at the bathroom door, "Sam?"

A full minute went by, and Daniel was about to enter the room when he heard his wife's reply, her voice sounding a little raw and drained. "I'm fine. I'm okay. Just give me a minute."

Daniel frowned in worry on hearing the flushing of water and Sam moving around the bathroom. Eventually, the door opened and she walked out, looking very drained. She walked past her husband and son without a word or a glance, and she sat down on the top step of the staircase, the Colonel putting her head in her hands. Now even more worried than he already had been, Daniel, noticing that Jake was drowsy, went into his son's room to settle the boy down before emerging back onto the landing. He sat down next to Sam and hugged her tightly, not saying a word.

He kissed her hair lightly on feeling her tremble in his arms, and he said softly, "You're going to be fine, Sam."

She sniffed and shook her head. "When I was carrying Jake, my morning sickness wasn't so bad. In fact, it was quite late and didn't last that long. _This_, however, feels like I'm not only saying 'hello' to breakfast and lunch again, but also to breakfast, lunch and supper from the past month too." She groaned and then tried to stand up, trying to compose herself. "I've got to do things."

He wouldn't let her get up though. "Oh no you're not. I did the cleaning during your nap this morning."

She groaned as she sat up to look at him, worried. "Daniel."

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Like you thought I wouldn't do anything." He touched her cheek. "Come on, you need to eat... and I made dinner..."

She closed her eyes and groaned again. "Daniel, you're supposed to be resting. You're still not a hundred percent." She began to grumble. "Stupid stubborn Archaeologists." She looked at him, a trace of amusement on her face. "Well, seeing as you won't let me get up to do things, and I won't _agree_ to anything that you do, help me up."

Amused too, he helped her up and she asked, glancing back towards Jake's room with a concerned frown, "How is he?"

His smile faded. "He's still a little sniffly. It'll go soon."

As he helped her down the stairs, she said with a soft yet pained smile as she remembered the past, "You used to get summer colds a lot when we first met."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"It might sound like we're on a high horse, but heck, we are the Fifth Race. I just think there oughta be some sort of responsibility involved here. They're already trash-talking each other... I don't think we should be helping them to elevate that." Cam put his hands down on the briefing room table in the midst of a briefing with his CO and most of his team. "They're just gonna have to learn to listen to each other."

Landry nodded in agreement and Teal'c said, nodding a little, "If the Tuweiians and Riapeans are given any technological assistance, there would be no guarantee, regardless of their assurances otherwise, that they would not use it for strategic and tactical purposes."

Vala shrugged. "Well... we're already giving them medical help. Maybe throw in a microprocessor or two..." Suddenly Sam looked at Landry, who nodded, silently giving her permission to leave, and the Colonel left quickly and quietly. "Or... a vial of Samantha's morning sickness." She looked at Cam, gesturing with a thumb to where Sam had gone. "Is she going to be all right?"

Cam replied, trying not to look worried, "Doc said she's fine." He cleared his throat, changing the subject. "So... I know they could use tech for peaceful purposes... but with their rate of development, they could, as Carter said, exploit something like a combustion engine or even a naquadah generator."

Teal'c said, "It is easy now to identify with the concerns of the Tollan."

Landry glanced at where Sam had been sitting and he said, "Okay. I'll send a message to Tuwria within the hour, notifying them of our decision. You and your team, Colonel, will return tomorrow morning with SG-3 to present the latest amendment to the treaty. Doctor Jackson will accompany you. Dismissed."

Cam stood as Landry got up and then left with a nod. When the General had left, Cam punched the air triumphantly. "Yes!" He sat down as Teal'c and Vala shot him some odd looks.

Vala asked, looking a second away from physically restraining the Colonel on the ground, "Are you okay?"

Cam remarked, looking pleased, his arms across his chest, "Come on, we're getting Jackson back... even if it's only for a day. Tomorrow should be a cinch. We may as well just go on home for the month."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow sceptically as Vala too looked sceptical. "ColonelMitchell, it is unwise and rash to believe that a single excursion of SG-1 could be simple. Which team have you been a member of for the previous three years?"

Vala smirked a little at the joke as Cam looked surprised and then pointed at Teal'c. "That was a joke, right?" He glanced at Vala and back at Teal'c. "Man, you don't joke for ages, it's hard to know you're joking when you finally do." He slapped the surface of the table. "Come on, you two, let's go check on Sam and then get some good eats."

Vala frowned a little. "_Good_ eats? Cameron... I've eaten quite possibly the worst food in the galaxy..."

Teal'c added with a smirk, "Indeed."

Vala nodded. "... and I still wouldn't call the food in the Commissary 'good'... Granted, I wouldn't even call it 'food'... but that might just be me."

Cam shot her a look. "It's edible... and it's Sergeant Gatesby's shift today... you know, the gal who makes the gooseberry pies..."

Vala folded her arms across her chest and smirked triumphantly as she looked across at Teal'c, whose eyebrow shot up. "Do not misrepresent the truth, ColonelMitchell. The whole team knows that your only reason for visiting the Commissary on this day and at this hour is because you will encounter NurseChapman."

Cam glared at his friends as he reddened with barely suppressed embarrassment. He then got up and said, "Who's coming?" before rather hastily leaving the room to check up on his co-command.

Teal'c and Vala got up, both still smirking, and she remarked mischievously, "Well, that's embarrassing Cameron about Francine off the list. What's next?"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

A tired Sam came home, her bag slung over her shoulder after a particularly intense day at work. She dropped the bag in the hallway, not caring where it went, and she took her coat off, hanging it up before venturing into the lounge. She smiled tiredly on finding Daniel asleep on the couch with a sleeping Jake in his lap, the Archaeologist's head having fallen back due to him having been seated before he had fallen asleep. She switched the television off, clearing some rubbish from the table. She quietly bent over Daniel's slumbering form and removed his glasses before sitting down next to him. She drew a blanket over her family's forms and rested her head against her husband's shoulder as her hand came to rest over the one that was on Jake's back.

She was about to drift off when she felt something move and as she was about to open her eyes, she heard Jake excitedly say as he moved some more, "Mommy!"

Smiling, she quietly shushed him, whispering, "Jakey... Daddy's sleeping." She carefully took the toddler from Daniel and looked at her son's beaming face as he babbled. "So how have you been? How much Barney did Daddy sing along to this time?"

She heard a groaning next to her and Daniel's drowsy voice say as he stretched, "I lost count after ten." She grinned as she and Daniel kissed, and he asked as he held her, "Hey, how are you feeling?"

"Tired. Today's been pretty hectic. You?"

"A lot better than I've been... although I'm seriously doubting my sanity after all that Barney, Teletubbies and Dora. How was work?"

She snuggled into his embrace as a bouncing Jake sat on them. "Oh... intensive. Spent most of the day working with Bill and Jay. I went off-world with SG-3 because they needed someone to check out that device in the centre of that village on 538. Turns out that it was emitting a low frequency sound pattern that kept the local wildlife away."

He frowned in worry. "How's..."

She shook her head. "No, I'm fine. Carolyn checked me out when we came home." She sighed. "But it made me think that I might not be so lucky the next time." She shrugged. "But then... that's what we signed up for." She paused in thought. "Okay, we didn't actually know we'd be doing all this... but..." He rubbed her waist as he kissed her hair, and she continued, "Anyway... you're going to Tuwria tomorrow..."

He nodded. "Yeah. General Landry phoned me earlier in case you needed to go back... and seeing as Woolsey's in charge of Atlantis now..."

"Yeah." She kissed his cheek. "How are you feeling about it?"

"Pretty optimistic." He held her a little tighter and groaned softly. "Come on, let's go to bed."

They helped each other up and she asked, her arm around his waist as he held Jake, "How's the pain?"

"Barely noticeable... but Carolyn doesn't want me starting work for another week..."

"Well, it's just to be on the safe side... especially with your track record, Doctor J." She kissed him as they reached Jake's room.


	9. Chapter 9

Daniel and Cam trudged along a woodland path together, having left Teal'c and Vala with SG-3 to guard the 'gate of the planet that they were on. The exuberant Colonel, understandably so after a particular length of time without someone whom he respected a great deal, kept lookout, as did Daniel, as they talked. Cam said quietly as he swiftly moved a hanging vine from in front of his face,

"Well... I'm guessing you'd rather be at home now."

Daniel offered him a small smile. "No."

Cam looked a little surprised. "No? Home with Sam and Jake not as rosy as you're making out?" He grinned mischievously as they both leapt over a shallow ditch. "Or too many flashbacks of a pregnant Sam?"

Daniel smirked briefly and glanced around at his surroundings. "I miss doing _this_, you know... visiting planets, ratifying treaties, exploring..." He appeared thoughtful. "Sam, Teal'c and I have been doing this for twelve years, give or take. Makes you think."

"Sure does. I'm just glad you don't call me 'new guy' any more."

Daniel glanced at the Colonel mischievously. "Miss me?"

Cam glared at him. "We had your wife with us. We weren't helpless. And we had T. Never forget that guy."

Daniel continued to smile, seeing through the glare and knowing that Cam had indeed missed him during his leave. Cam continued with a shrug,

"Well, there were a couple of times we could'a used you... but we can't go back to 743 with you for a while 'cos Landry's got it as low priority on the mission rota and I'm on strict orders from that little dark-haired daughter of a General to let you rest after this swing in the woods."

They left the wooded area that they had been walking through, the two men emerging into a clearing in which there were many round wooden houses with thatched roofs. Daniel cautiously let his P-90 rest on his chest as he pulled a camera out to take photos. Cam called into his radio as he peered into the distance in the direction from which they had come,

"T, this is Mitchell... we've reached the Tuweiian settlement."

Teal'c's reply came almost immediately. "Understood, ColonelMitchell."

Cam replaced his radio on his combat vest and turned to face Daniel as a group of natives emerged from the round house at the centre of the village. The Colonel frowned on not seeing the Archaeologist anywhere and he called as he spun on his heel, his hand on his radio, "Jackson?"

The group approached Cam, and the leader, with long dark braids and sheepskin clothing, addressed the Colonel. "Colonel Mitchell, we are honoured that you have returned to Tuweiia." The man bowed solemnly as lithe dark haired maidens danced around Cam, making him a little uneasy in that present moment due to his ailing comrade not being in sight. As they scattered rose petals at his feet, the Colonel fending off an attempt to put a flower garland on him, Cam glanced around and said,

"Pleasure's all mine, Alaric. Just give me a moment." Cam called into his radio. "Jackson? Buddy, you there?" The Colonel forced himself to take a deep breath as he pressed the button on his radio again. "T? You seen Jackson? He was here just a second ago."

"Indeed, I have not."

Alaric stepped forward, noting Cam's troubled expression, and he asked, "Colonel Mitchell? Is anything wrong?"

Cam hesitated and then called into his radio again, not wanting to give up as Teal'c and Vala emerged into the settlement from the woods, "Jackson! If you can hear me, you better get your lily ass back here this minute before I drag you here myself. What have I told you about wandering off like that?"

As Alaric greeted Teal'c and Vala, Cam said to his friends, the Colonel looking scared beneath his defiant exterior, "Jackson's gone walkabout. I can't seem to raise him."

Vala waved dismissively. "Oh come on, Cameron. He's here somewhere." She spun around and called, throwing her fists down in feigned exasperation, "Daniel... Daniel... come out. We know you're here." She frowned, looking annoyed. "Daniel! Come on. It isn't funny any more. Okay, so it wasn't funny to begin with, but you know... some people do have lives to live, yours truly included."

Cam glared at her and then said to Alaric, "One of our men may have gone missing. Have you seen him? He was just with me not long ago." Teal'c grabbed Vala by the shoulder, leading her to the edge of the woods where they began to search for their lost comrade.

Alaric replied, nodding solemnly, "Our spies within the forest witnessed you and a man resembling you. However, we do not know of his whereabouts."

"It's important. He's the man I told you we'd bring."

"I understand your desire to find your companion, but we do not..."

Cam interrupted him, sounding very angry. "I do _not_ want to know what you do _not_! One of my men is missing and I am not leaving 'til we find him! Is that clear?"

Some of Alaric's assistants whispered into their leader's ears as Alaric bowed his head once again. Alaric then raised his head and spoke, the man appearing to be troubled, "The Riapeans have increased their attacks in this area. They seized the bride of my brother one lunar cycle ago. They may have seized your friend too."

Cam, alarmed, looked at a grave Teal'c on hearing the news, and the Jaffa asked, "How can we recover him?"

Alaric's people murmured in consternation, and Alaric said softly, pain on his face, "You cannot, Teal'c. They will extract information from him and then when he is of no use..." Not a single word that followed was heard by any of SG-1 as they sprinted off into the woods to search for their friend, fearful of what they might find yet determined to get to him quickly.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Shrugging on a denim jacket as she prepared to leave the mountain, Sam went into the Infirmary to see Carolyn. The Colonel leaned against a gurney as she waited for the doctor to finish with an Airman. The Airman left shortly afterwards and Carolyn, a clipboard under her arm, approached Sam, remarking with an exasperated expression on noting the Colonel's civilian clothes, "I want your hours."

Sam smirked. "You wouldn't be able to handle the crap I get during the shorter hours alone."

"Puh-lease, daughter of a General here." Sam laughed softly as she thought of her own father. Carolyn then said, leaning next to Sam on the same gurney, "So... I'm guessing the pregnant Colonel is going home finally." The medic appeared mischievous. "When you were pregnant with Jake, it took the combined forces of your husband and the rest of your team to get you to leave your lab, never mind the mountain."

Sam shrugged, her smile fading. "Well... we had the Ori then. There wasn't time to slack." She glanced down and rubbed her flat stomach with a soft smile. "This time around, there's going to be a little less stress." Her smile faded slowly. "Well, all things considering." She looked up at the doctor. "Anyway... I was just stopping by. I think I better go home a little early to rest otherwise Daniel's going to be on my case when he comes home."

Carolyn smiled and patted the Colonel's hand. "Good idea. I'll tell Daniel when he and the rest of your team come back."

Sam appeared worried. "I can't help thinking that..." She shook her head. "No, I guess I'm just being silly."

Carolyn watched Sam for a moment. "Sam... it's understandable that you're worried. Not only is he your friend, but he's your husband and the father of your son. And not only that... but you're scared of being left alone with Jake and your unborn child. He's going to come back. No Ori or renegade Asgard round here." Carolyn rubbed Sam's shoulder. "Go home, Sam. Do you want me to get someone to drive you? I'd drive you but my shift finishes late and I've got SG-5 coming in in ten minutes."

Sam smiled gratefully at the doctor. "I'm fine, honestly. I'll be okay." The two women hugged and Sam said, a wistful expression on her face, "I wish I was out there with them."

"I wish you could be too, but I'd rather not risk it. It was already risky the last time with that device."

Sam nodded and then said, giving the doctor's shoulder a friendly squeeze, "See ya later."

"See ya."

Sam left the Infirmary as Carolyn went back to her duties. The Colonel was about to enter a lift to go to the surface when the unauthorised offworld activation alarm blared through the base. Without a second thought Sam fled from the lifts, sprinting to the control room, somehow knowing that her team was in trouble... that Daniel was in trouble. Within minutes, she arrived, struggling to catch her breath as she stood next to Landry as he talked to Cam via a radio signal through the open 'gate.

"... Jackson is definitely missing, Sir. We've looked for him everywhere. Alaric and his men accompanied us during the search. Rumour has it that the Riapeans have taken him. I recommend that you send the Odyssey out here to scan the planet for his transmitter signal."

Walter glanced up at Sam, who had closed her eyes, the Colonel looking very close to tears as she went into shock. The Sergeant quickly had her seated as a concerned Landry looked on, and the General said, not liking the turn of events, "Well, unfortunately, Colonel, the Odyssey is currently undergoing maintenance after the damage it sustained from sabotage at the hands of the Lucian Alliance recently."

Cam sounded understandably impatient. "Oh come on, Sir... surely it can manage a hop across the galaxy and a little scan?"

"I'll see what I can do, son." He paused, his hand on Sam's shoulder as she stared, unseeing, through the control room window. "God speed. Landry out."

The wormhole shutdown behind the Iris, which then opened and Landry said as he watched Sam in concern, "Colonel Jackson?"

She didn't answer for a long moment as she watched the Stargate. Her mind went back to the years before... the adventures, the wars, the many, many discoveries. For some reason, her mind lingered on one particular moment in her past, one which had been painful at the time despite her being simply a third party then. Now she was the person looking for their other half through the Stargate. He would do the same for her – there was no question of that. Taking a deep breath to steady herself, she snapped back to the present and said in a firm tone of voice as she stood to face Landry,

"I have to be aboard the Odyssey."

Had Hammond been in Landry's place, he would have seen the special significance in Sam's actions and determination. Even so, Landry knew that despite the Colonel's condition, when she had her mind set on something, there would be no deterring her. However, he wished that Jack could have been there to go in her stead. Knowing that they didn't have the luxury of being able to wait for Jack to come in from D.C., _and_ have Daniel still alive, Landry, looking worried, said as he left the control room,

"Follow me, Colonel."


	10. Chapter 10

Daniel woke up on his back in quite comfortable surroundings if he allowed himself to admit that fact. The truth was that he didn't... well, he _couldn't_ begin to as he stared at the ceiling of his rather sumptuous albeit unfocussed 'cell', wondering where on Earth, or otherwise, he had ended up. The last thing that he remembered was that he and Mitchell had reached the Tuweiian settlement, and he was about to conduct negotiations and peace talks which would have been a culmination of the weeks he had spent cramming for the mission when he had gained sufficient strength to do so.

He eventually figured out that he didn't have his glasses on. Hadn't aliens in the kidnapping trade realised yet that removing his glasses was a pointless act? Did they honestly think that by removing his glasses, they would render him impotent or inert? It only made him angry because it seemed like he was always getting new pairs. He and Sam had once worked out that he had managed to get through around eighteen thousand pairs of glasses during his time on SG-1, through breakage and loss to alien removal like this.

He was close to single-handedly keeping the American lens grinding industry afloat.

Or at least qualifying for a lifetime of money-off coupons from Alpine Vision.

He squinted at the marble ceiling and then slowly decided to risk moving his eyes to look elsewhere, reasoning that his captors would only immediately harm him if he made any sudden movements. The chamber appeared to be constructed from marble, from what he could see anyhow, with burning torches in brass holders fastened to pillars at regular intervals. He hadn't seen anyone yet and he wondered whether he could get up without alerting anyone to the act.

Just once, after eleven or twelve years of being on SG-1, he wouldn't have minded escaping from wherever he had been held captive, almost effortlessly. The universe owed him one... a huge one. However, as he silently worked on releasing himself from his restraints for which he didn't have the luxury of hypothesising at length their construction, he heard footsteps. Grimacing as he swore to himself, he looked up to see an out-of-focus face with dark hair atop a female body clothed in what he recognised as a shimmering shade of 'Tyrian purple', an ancient dye on Earth which had been made from crushed up sea creatures.

Daniel spoke as calmly as he could, knowing that snarking off would worsen the situation, if indeed there could be anything worse than being held against his will, bar torture of course. "Where the _hell_ am I, and who the hell are you?" Not as calm as he would have liked, but at least it was something.

The woman smoothed his forehead and replied in a compassionate voice, "Daniel Jackson, my apologies, but this was necessary. We need to converse with one another."

"Look, I don't mean to offend you or your social conventions, but this isn't how you get me to _converse_ with you. First of all, you're not my type; second of all..."

She smiled and suddenly two cloaked figures appeared, causing the Archaeologist much alarm. The figures undid the restraints, setting him free, and the woman helped him to sit up. Daniel rubbed his arms as the guards receded to the doors of the chamber, the Archaeologist eyeing them and the woman warily as he sat on the platform of plush pillows that he had been lying upon.

The woman sat down at his side and said with a friendly smile as she held his hand, stroking it fondly, "I am Riape, Sovereign of this domain."

He frowned as he looked at her, guardedly surprised and curious. "Riape, as in the Dominion of Riapea?"

"Riape is but a title." She got up, still holding his hand as she indicated for him to follow her. "Walk with me, Daniel Jackson."

He continued to frown, wondering how on Earth she could refer to him by his name when he hadn't divulged it to her... or at least he hadn't remembered doing so. Maybe Jack was right and he had left a lot of paternity suits around the Milky Way. He followed, however, knowing that Riape, or the lady referred to as 'Riape' held the answers to what he was doing there instead of being with Mitchell and the rest of his friends.

"How do you know my name?"

She turned to him as she led him out of the marble chamber, straight into a large sunlit yet verdant and colourful garden. "I encountered Colonel Mitchell, Teal'c, and Vala Mal Doran on your people's previous excursion into the Tuweiian territory." He was about to ask her something else, knowing that she wasn't mentioned anywhere in the mission reports. She smiled again, knowing what he was about to ask. "I and my entourage were in disguise for our own safety and that of the dominion. Colonel Mitchell may have mentioned an Emissary by the name of Iris."

Daniel nodded, vaguely remembering something in a mission report about the Riapean Emissary to the Tuweiians. "Yes, yes, I remember."

She continued as they ambled through the garden. "It is my disguise during negotiations. My mother before me left negotiations to her ministers, but she could not guarantee that all was well. This way, I know what has transpired, and what should transpire. There will be no wars during my reign." She looked away from him for a moment, determination yet fear in her eyes.

He sighed. "That's all well and good, your Highness, but why have you abducted me?"

She stood under a large apple tree as he couldn't help but be reminded, albeit much to his consternation, of the story of Adam and Eve in Genesis. She reached for an apple as what looked like a snake lie entwined around a nearby branch. She offered the fruit to him but when he shook his head, she shrugged and bit into it herself. "My dear Sir, I have not abducted you, nor did my people. We merely prevented your abduction."

His frown intensified. How had they prevented his kidnapping if they were holding him captive? "Excuse me, you're holding me against my will. You're my captors. I woke up in your territory. I was on my way to conduct negotiations between your people and the Tuweiians."

She shook her head, the Queen looking troubled. "No. That is inaccurate." She appeared to be in a ponderous mood as she regarded the half eaten apple. "The Tuweiians wish to gain advanced technology from you. We wish the same, but technology to harvest the large spreads of grain in order to feed our growing population, and to strengthen trade ties with the Tuweiians. However, the Tuweiians, those wretched people, believe that we have in our possession a large weapon of unimaginable destruction."

Daniel stared at Riape. In his mind, he saw the untold devastation caused by various explosive devices and nuclear weapons in SG-1's travels. He had even experienced radiation sickness himself. He and Jack had struggled to prevent the Langarans from blowing each other to pieces not long after he had returned from the Ancients' plane of existence.

"... And they, believing that we have such weaponry, will stop at nothing to stop us. This all originates from an ancient fable from the first mothers at the dawn of time. The Tuweiians are a very superstitious people, Daniel Jackson. They believe that the destruction caused by the enemy of the mothers was caused by us. For every thing negative that transpires, we are blamed. We feature in their folklore as devils, those who snatch children from their parents in the dead of night, who sour bovine milk and incinerate domiciles."

He frowned as he tried to concentrate on what she was telling him. " But wait..." He stopped, standing face-to-face with the Queen. "But that doesn't explain why I'm here."

She nodded. "It does." She reached out to stroke his cheek and he, out of politeness, did his best not to flinch. "The Tuweiians believe that your arrival, as an esteemed negotiator, will result in a treaty between our three peoples; a treaty which they believe will exclude the agricultural and engineering technology that both our societies do in fact require. By abducting you, they will blame us for your capture and win your friends to their cause." She sighed. "I would rather my people struggle to rebuild since the many natural disasters that have afflicted us than them being under Tuweiian rule. My forebears would have died at the very thought." She touched his hand again as he contemplated what she was telling him. "Daniel Jackson, you are our only hope. You are the only hope of a brighter future for my children, for my people."

He appeared helpless. "What can I do?"

She gazed at him in concern and desperation. "The Tuweiians would have killed you once they had succeeded in abducting you. They would have blamed us for the death to worsen the situation and to justify developing weaponry to 'defend' their borders, their people and their guests. You, therefore..." She stroked his cheek fondly. "... are vital to ensuring peace in these parts. I do apologise for causing you to be hostile towards me, but this is necessary. The Tuweiians are under the impression that you are dead. You have the element of surprise on your side, amongst other things."

He politely held her hand, carefully removing it from his face. "Riape, you have to understand... my friends won't yield like that. They know that I would rather die than have them be held hostage by the demands of such people. They will do everything in their power to get me back though." He eventually let go of her hand. "You have to help me get back to my friends, otherwise if the Tuweiians convince them that this is your doing, no-one in the galaxy will be able to stop them."

She nodded gravely as she took his hand again, leading him through the garden. "Come, Daniel Jackson. There is little time. Once we leave my palace complex, we will be at risk of being exposed to many Tuweiian spies and, of which I am greatly saddened to admit, mercenaries from our own people. Disguises must be prepared... and I must attempt to contact your friends. Our communications technology was described by Teal'c as 'rudimentary', but it should be sufficient for this task if your friends are nearing my Kingdom."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sam frantically tapped at a console aboard the Odyssey as the ship remained in orbit of Earth. Landry's voice, sounding impatient, came over the radio as she wiped sweat from her brow as she continued to work, "Colonel Jackson."

Not taking her eyes from the console, Sam replied as Major Marks and Captain Binder assisted her, "Give me a few minutes, Sir."

"I'm afraid I can't. If the sublight engines at the very least are not functional, the mission is a bust." His tone softened. "Colonel, I know what you're up against, I know what you're going through, but you have to think about this objectively. You won't be able to save Doctor Jackson if you allow yourself to be irrational."

Sam frown intensified as she tapped noticeably harder at her console. When she spoke, she sounded highly irritable and threatening. "Sir, I don't have time for this. You either help me to locate Daniel, or you shut the hell up." She sighed in partial relief, stopping her tapping as she murmured to the shocked personnel either side of her, "Sub-light engines are online. Let's go."

Marks and Binder nodded, going to their own stations as she sat in the command chair. When she noticed another incoming transmission, she grimaced a little, expecting the worst. However, Landry said after a brief pause, "One to beam up, Colonel."

She closed her eyes for a moment and then said, glancing over her left shoulder, "Marks."

Marks nodded and pressed a couple of buttons on his console. A few seconds later, Jack, in green BDUs appeared, waving at the bridge personnel. Sam tried not to smile as she stood up, saying, "General O'Neill."

Jack waved at her dismissively. "Sit down, Carter. This is your party. I'm just here to give him a good whacking after you do it first... and enough with the General. Just 'cos I'm here doesn't mean that I'm not your friend or the godfather of your kiddy." He sat down at an empty console to Sam's right. "And besides, that chair gives me the creeps."

Sam shook her head a little in disbelief and then said, leaning forward a little in her seat, "Take us out of here, Major."

Marks replied as the ship began to move, turning from facing Earth as it passed the moon, "Aye, aye Ma'am!"

When the ship had turned, she said, determination in her voice, "Set co-ordinates for Tuwria. How's the hyper drive coming along?"

A technician called, "Almost there, Ma'am. Should be operational in a couple of minutes. Sublights are good 'til then."

"Let's roll, people."

The ship pulled back and then sped away from Earth, Sam's eyes remaining on the viewscreen as distant stars flew past them, the Colonel neither intending to sleep nor do anything but get Daniel back. Jack remarked, plans forming in his head to get Sam off of the bridge eventually, "Well, the guy was due a missing spell right about now. The ol' Universe would have imploded if he stayed safe for too long." He let out a slow breath. "Damn boy of ours must have got someone pissed in a previous life though."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Cam, Teal'c and Vala walked unrelentingly through miles of jungle, tearing down vines that got in their way with varying levels of ferocity. Vala pouted, the jungle seeming endless before them, the team having stripped down to combat vests and t-shirts in the sweltering heat as they ventured closer to the planet's equator. "Why is it always Daniel who manages to get into trouble?"

Cam looked at her as though she had gone mad. "Uh... _just_ Daniel? Excuse me, Vala, but we've..." He grunted as he attempted to slice through a particularly thick vine. Giving up, he then shot it, the Colonel bearing the brunt of the splattered vegetation on his face as he grimaced in disgust. "... been to hell and back a lot of times. Quite frankly, we're like the only folks in the galaxy who would do it on purpose." He cocked his head briefly. "To be honest though, the boy manages to get into a lot of scrapes."

His face an almost psychopathic mask as a wet vine slapped him in the face, Teal'c replied as he tried to control his temper, "Indeed."

Cam patted him on the back, hoping that the Jaffa wasn't going to raze the entire jungle in anger, although razing this damn thing would make things a lot easier. He tiredly tapped his radio for what felt like the thousandth time. "This is Colonel Mitchell of SG-1. Come in."

He threw his radio down in disgust and frustration, and Vala said, wiping sweat from her brow with the back of her hand, "Come on, Cameron, you know the likelihood of anyone replying to that message. We're out of range from SG-3. Our only hope is that the good General's sent the Odyssey out for a spin... although..." She slumped in defeat as she weakly pushed a low branch out of the way, "... that's out of action because of repairs."

Teal'c said, gritting his teeth as a branch slapped him in the face instead of a vine, "You must not give up. We will locate DanielJackson. Stargate Command will, in turn, locate us." When Vala stopped in despair, he slapped her shoulder and shouted, "You must keep moving!"

Vala whined, her hair a mess, "But Muscles... we've been out here for so long... I'm in badly need of a manicure..." She snapped as she slapped a mosquito on her neck, "And you don't want to know about the mosquitoes!"

Teal'c remarked grimly as he slapped his back, "I do not." He resisted the urge to swing a branch in her face in frustration at the uncertainty of their situation.

Cam said, his voice wavering with impending exhaustion, "Hey, hold it together guys. We're gonna find our Archaeologist if it takes all night. We've been through a lot worse before. Quit your moaning. We'll get found. Just keep moving."

He closed his eyes, feeling ready to drop to his knees in exhaustion when he spotted an unnatural light through the leaves in front of them. He struggled to stay on his feet as he stumbled through the forest, followed by Teal'c and Vala. Cam asked, "What the hell is that, T? Any ideas?"

Teal'c replied as he moved to Cam's side, ready to help him should he fall, "I do not know, ColonelMitchell, but we must keep going."

"Aww, don't I know it..." He was about to reach for his radio when it crackled into life. He shot curious glances at Teal'c and Vala before calling into it as he pressed a button, "Hello? This is Colonel Cameron Mitchell of SG-1. Who might this be?"

A female voice replied, "Greetings, Colonel." Cam frowned as he found the voice to be familiar. "There is little time. I am sending my emissaries to you. You must be careful."

"Who are you?"

"Please. All questions will be answered. I apologise greatly that our meeting has to be under such circumstances."

The radio connection ended quickly, leaving the Colonel to grumpily reattach his radio onto his vest. They finally emerged from the jungle, stumbling from tiredness and dehydration. Vala asked, looking confused as they squinted up at a huge marble temple built in the Doric style, "Was that..."

Teal'c nodded, looking into the distance. "That sounded remarkably like Emissary Iris. I suggest we tread carefully."

Cam remarked in an uneven voice, "Oh yeah... all for that..." Teal'c steadied him as he almost fell flat on his face. "... when I don't feel like the night after a drinking contest with my Uncle Matt. Dang."

Teal'c swung around, aiming his P-90 somewhere to their left on hearing a noise. Suddenly, they were surrounded by armed men and women. Vala lifted her P-90, aiming it as she called, "You aren't Emissaries are you? Who are you?"

A man from the group demanded menacingly, raising his weapon at Cam, "You will come with us."

Cam groaned as he flexed his finger around the trigger of his P-90. "Aw, hell no."

SG-1 flinched and then glanced around as zat blasts shot past them, immobilising some of the aggressors as others shot back. Cam nodded gratefully at Reynolds as he and his men continued to zat the people. Teal'c grabbed a zat and fired at someone who was raising a weapon to fire upon Reynolds. Cam dove out of the way, landing on the ground with a grunt as he pushed Vala out of harm's way as she got cornered by a man and a woman, her weapons gone.

The aggressors having been immobilised, Cam asked as Reynolds helped him up, "Not that I'm ungrateful or anything, but how did you know?"

A blushing Reynolds remarked as Vala put her arm around him in an affectionate gesture, "Uh... well, you guys are SG-1 after all. Figured you'd need back up, ya bunch of trouble magnets." He glanced around at the prone bodies. "Who were these folks?"

Cam shrugged. "They appeared after some woman contacted me." Their attention was drawn back to the fray once again when Teal'c yelled as he fired upon more people that emerged, shooting energy weapons. "Damn, here we go again." He shouted over the bitter din of bullets and blasts. "Fall back to the tree-line!"

The collective forces of SGs 1 and 3 spread along the tree-line of the jungle that they had left as they fired at the enemy. As they crouched behind tree stumps, the battle intensifying as more joined the fight, they could hear the neighing of horses. Cam suddenly stopped and looked over at Teal'c, who had also stopped firing in confusion as he listened to the approaching sound.

"T! You hear that too?"

"I do indeed. They must be reinforcements."

Cam nodded grimly as they both resumed firing. However, they stopped once again when the mounted newcomers joined the fight, firing upon the enemy instead of them. Cam called into his radio, eyeing Reynolds some distance away, "Reynolds! Tell your men to stop firing!"

The sounds of bullets and zat blasts eventually ceased as the newcomers eventually quelled the initial aggressors. One of the mounted soldiers, the only one to wear a hooded robe, went into the middle of the battleground, where unconscious soldiers lie sprawled in the dust. The horse reared before coming to a stop, and the hooded figure called out in a female voice, much to the SG-teams' surprise, "Colonel Mitchell? Please reveal yourself. I mean no harm." Teal'c and Cam exchanged a look before the latter slowly stood up from behind his tree stump. "And leave your weapons. I will not permit them within the palace complex." She looked around as others emerged. "And that goes for all of you."

After the clatter and thuds of weaponry dropping to the floor, Cam called from where he stood, "Emissary Iris?" He cautiously walked towards her. "What is going on here?"

"There are so many questions, Colonel Mitchell. So many." She dropped her hood as the rest of the mounted soldiers gathered around her, revealing long dark hair and a small amethyst coronet. "I am afraid that I misrepresented the truth when you last encountered us however. I am not an Emissary." She smiled. "I am Riape, Sovereign of Riapea... and I have Daniel Jackson."

Cam rolled his eyes. "Well, we knew that already. Where is he?" He brandished a zat that he had concealed within his clothing. However, the rest of Riape's companions aimed their weapons at him, which then in turn necessitated Cam's friends to aim their weapons at the Riapeans.

Riape smiled at Cam softly as she confidently knocked Cam's zat to the ground with her sword. "All will be explained. I am afraid that the Tuweiians have been relaying falsehoods to you. Daniel Jackson is safe, and you are invited to join him within my palace. I will make preparations for safe passage to the Ring of Thetis. Now, please, come. You must be tired."


	11. Chapter 11

_I'd just like to say that Doctor Who, like SG-1 doesn't belong to me. If, after reading this chapter, and probably the next, that still appears irrelevant... never mind._

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The Odyssey had only just reached the planet when an electronic beeping could be heard from one of the consoles. Sam turned to Marks, the Major holding his earpiece into his ear. He said, looking at her in surprise after a moment's hesitation, "Colonel Jackson... we have an incoming transmission from the planet surface... video and audio."

Jack raised his eyebrows slowly. He muttered to Sam accusingly, "I thought you said these guys weren't that advanced?"

Sam ignored the General and said with a nod to Marks, "Go ahead."

Marks nodded. Moments later the view screen was filled with the image of an austere looking dark haired man wearing a bulky sheepskin cloak. Sam stared in surprise at the image. She recognised the man as the Tuweiian Chieftain from SG-1's previous excursion into the territory. The man said, bowing to her in greeting,

"Colonel Jackson of SG-1. I am Alaric of Peuce, Chief of Tuweiia."

Sam nodded. "I know who you are."

"Yes. Indeed." He paused, looking as though he was bravely stemming a huge outpouring of grief. "I would rather that I did not have to give you bad news. The Riapean scum have seized Daniel Jackson. Colonel Mitchell, Vala Mal Doran, and Teal'c have ventured into Riapean territory to extract him." He appeared grave. "However, my spies in the territory have reported that they were ambushed by Riapean forces and killed. The whereabouts of Daniel Jackson are unknown, but he is presumed dead too. Our entire nation is in grief for the loss of such exceptional people who were working to bring peace to this land."

Sam stared at the image of the chieftain, stunned and numb. Her friends were dead. Her husband could be dead. Why? For what? She remembered where she was, who was she was meant to be and she straightened up in her seat. Determination and faith filled her once again. They couldn't be dead. There must have been a mistake. As Jack came forward to stand next to her in a silent gesture of support, she said,

"Then you won't mind us launching an investigation."

Something indescribable flitted across the Chieftain's face for the briefest of moments... something akin to fear. Jack added, his hands casually in his pockets, "Unless you've got something to hide."

Alaric hesitated before saying, sounding highly affronted, "I must protest, Sir!"

"Why ever for?"

Alaric hesitated once again, the Chieftain looking panicked for a brief moment. "I... I have not made the necessary arrangements to accept guests into my domain."

Jack waved dismissively as Sam glanced at him. "Oh, whatever you had prepared for SG-1 is enough. It's not like we'll be staying the night." As he discreetly signalled to Marks to close the communications channel, he continued, cocking his head insolently, "See ya, Aladdin."

The image of Alaric disappeared, leaving a view of the planet that the ship was orbiting. Sam looked at the General, bemused, "Sir... I mean, Jack... his name's 'Alaric'."

He snapped as she got up, "Hey, if he has clues about the whereabouts of our people, he could be called Doctor Demento for all I care." He turned around as they were about to leave the bridge, stopping her from doing so. "Now this is where I step in. You're my best bud's wife. There's a code here... chiefly me not letting you put your...self on the line, or the ass of your unborn child."

She pushed the arm that was blocking her, a pained determination in her eyes. "No, I'm going... even if it counts as insubordination. My team is down there." She pushed past him to get to the ship's armoury as he stared at her retreating figure, grumpily remarking to Marks, the bemused Major now at the General's side,

"This is why someone like Daniel should never get married... the man's contagious."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The three remaining members of SG-1 were escorted through a lavishly decorated marble palace with shiny floors. The team was led by Riape, and they were surrounded by a band of maids, ministers and envoys, their way lit by flaming torches. Cam nudged Vala a few times when she slowed down on several occasions on spotting priceless items of jewellery and upholstery. Teal'c however regarded their surroundings with the muted albeit philosophical disdain of one who had witnessed a lifetime of rulers ensconced in luxury while their subjects perished in poverty, but was too polite to say anything unless he was provoked into doing so.

Cam muttered to the Jaffa, the Colonel's eyes caught by a colourful sculpture that looked to have been made from finely spun glass, "I don't like the suspense building up here. We'll be thinking that he's hooked up to a computer or something, and he'll turn out fine... or we'll think he's fine, and he's hooked up to something."

Teal'c looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "I do not believe that the Riapeans have such technology at their disposal."

Cam glared at him. "Stop taking me so literally."

Teal'c retorted with the faintest of smirks, "Then there would be fewer opportunities to mock you."

The party stopped at a set of heavy mahogany doors with a golden lock, and handles which appeared to be made from the same metal. Riape extracted a set of golden keys from a hidden pocket in her gown and she proceeded to unlock the doors as SG-1 waited with guarded hope. Finally, the doors were unlocked, and a couple of maids pushed them, holding them open so that the party could proceed into the room beyond.

On seeing Daniel, the team stopped, stunned. Due to their collective tenure on the team, each member knew that it was prudent to be cautious during sudden reunions like this. Teal'c wordlessly regarded the Archaeologist, stopping a relieved looking Vala from running to him. Cam said with a casual nod,

"Jackson?"

Daniel, who had been standing next to a window, looking out with the look of a man who was a long way from home, turned to his team, inwardly relieved to see them safe. He said with a nod of his own, "Mitchell... Teal'c, Vala..."

After a moment's hesitation, Cam remarked with a soft glare as they approached the Archaeologist, Vala running to hug him, "You ever do that again, boy, and I'll personally see to it that your ass gets kicked more times than UConn's did so far this season." When Vala had stopped hugging Daniel, the Colonel replaced her as did Teal'c.

Daniel asked them, concerned as he noted that they looked very much the worse for wear, "Are you guys okay?"

Vala waved dismissively. "Oh, we're fine." She paused pensively. "We will be when we get back home anyway. The Odyssey should be here by now to pick us up."

Daniel asked, worried as his friends gathered around him, "The Odyssey? You didn't tell Earth..."

Cam nodded grimly. "We had to, bud. We didn't know where you were. You just vanished. Do you remember anything?"

Daniel shrugged as he silently hoped that someone had seen fit not to inform his wife of his previous 'missing' status. "I remember some Iron Age style round houses, and then nothing 'til I woke up here in the palace." He spared them the details of how he had been tied up, not wanting them to get the wrong idea and attack Riape. "Apparently the Tuweiians tried to kidnap me, but the Riapeans got there first."

Cam nodded as Teal'c replied, "We also heard a similar narrative of events. It would appear that the Tuweiians had ulterior motives during these negotiations."

Cam shrugged, remarking, "Hey, who doesn't?" He put a hand on Daniel's shoulder. "Anyway, let's go home. I haven't heard from the Odyssey yet, which means we're gonna have to risk going back through Tuweiian territory to get to the 'gate." He turned to look at Riape. "You couldn't help us get back to the Stargate... the, uh, Ring of Thetis, could you? It's just that we have possibly your entire neighbouring country wanting to use our possible deaths as a bargaining tool with our people."

Riape shook her head and looked at Daniel. The rest of the team looked at him curiously, and Daniel, sighing, said as he closed his eyes briefly, "We... we're wanted for something. These guys have ulterior motives too. There's a reason why they and the Tuweiians are enemies. They're looking for an ancient weapon."

Cam exclaimed as he held up his hands. "Whoa, whoa, wait one cotton pickin' minute!" He looked at Riape once again. "A weapon? No can do. Our standing orders are to make peaceful allies and gain technology with which to defend Earth with. I'm not about to help you kick your own asses... you can do that yourselves."

Vala asked Daniel, curious, "Ancient weapon? As in Alteran technology?"

Daniel shook his head. "No, ancient as in 'old'... not the race. Legend has it that it has the power to bring peace to these lands, to end the bloodshed of brother against brother, sister against sister... and so on. It is said that the goddess Thetis breathed her essence into it. Thetis, on Earth, is a Greek goddess, who was the mother of Achilles. In established mythology she was only a minor sea goddess – a nymph – one of the fifty daughters of Nereus... but earlier evidence suggests that Thetis was a lot more central than that in earlier forms of the Ancient Greek religion." He gestured to a stone statue in the corner of the chamber, of a woman in Greek style robes. "The Riapeans revere her as the chief mother of their race. It is said that she brought the entire planet's population here in order to hide them from who I believe are the Goa'uld. She left them with this weapon to protect themselves, but over time, they forgot how to use it, and they split into two factions... the Riapeans... and the Tuweiians. They've been in a Cold War situation for a long while, with each professing to have weapons of unimaginable power." He looked at his friends gravely. "That's why the Tuweiians are so insistent on having us help them... they want to purge the Riapeans and take the dominion for their own, where they believe to find the fabled weapon and rule the planet."

Teal'c looked concerned as he considered the situation. Vala frowned in worry as she asked Riape, "Well... what do you need us for? We don't have the technology here and now to help you. If you let us go back to Earth..."

Riape approached them, leaving her maids behind. "There is little time and too much at stake here, Vala Mal Doran. I cannot guarantee that you will reach the Ring of Thetis alive. The Tuweiians are indeed using your apparent deaths as a bargaining tool with your people."

Cam frowned as Daniel looked confused. "How..."

"A vessel from your world is in orbit of our world."

SG-1 exchanged glances and then Cam pressed a button on his radio. "Odyssey... this is Colonel Mitchell, come in." All that he heard was static during all attempts to contact the ship that was allegedly in orbit. He looked at Riape. "What's going on? How do you know?"

"We have been monitoring transmissions for some time now. However, the Tuweiians have disabled our broadcasting equipment. We have attempted to contact the vessel that you refer to as 'Odyssey', but to no avail."

Teal'c said, "Your technology and ours are different... how could the Tuweiians block our radios?"

"I do not know, Teal'c... but the fact of the matter remains that they have."

Daniel said, a fixed expression on his face, the Archaeologist knowing that they might never see home again, for a while at least, "I'm going to assume that they've already tried locating us by our subcutaneous transmitters. Even if we're dead, they'd try finding us at least... which means they'll come here 'cos they haven't managed to get a lock on us yet."

Cam appeared sad. "And get ambushed like we did."

Riape invited the team to sit down, and she said as her retinue appeared with refreshments, "My forces are patrolling the forest, and I now have spies in place in Alaric's settlement. I may not be able to contact them now, but they will not allow your people to be harmed." She gestured to the golden trolleys on which there were a great many food laden plates. "Please."

The team hesitated and Riape said, inwardly admiring that they weren't so willing, "Believe me when I say that had I wished to kill you, I would have done so already, and I would have done so with far more honour than poisoning one's food. Fear not."

Daniel said, his voice sounding flat, "Guys... from what I've seen already, a lot of their culture is based on that of Ancient Greece. Riape is bound by her culture's rules of hospitality not to harm us."

Riape smiled at the Archaeologist and then left the room with her maids and ministers as the team began to eat. Only Daniel refrained from doing so. Cam glanced at the Archaeologist in concern. "You okay?"

Daniel was looking down at his wedding ring, which was in the palm of his hand as he was obliged not to wear it while on duty due to health and safety concerns. He said softly, lines in his face accentuating his age and troubled thoughts, "I'm worried."

Vala remarked around a mouthful of food, "Well, that much is obvious."

Cam patted his hand consolingly. "Hey, we'll be home soon."

Daniel sighed again, closing his hand around the ring as he thought of his wife so far away. Teal'c quietly observed, "DanielJackson is concerned for the mental wellbeing of ColonelJackson during her gestational period."

Daniel said a little too brightly, changing the subject, "So... Riape's agreed to let us use her library. I've been reading a little since I've been here... their writing system is based on the Linear B script... which is at least three and a half thousand years old." He continued rather flatly, "It's amazing."

Cam asked, looking at him sceptically, "You sure?"

Daniel appeared confused. "What?"

"That it's amazing? You don't sound as keenly enthusiastic as you usually do when faced with something that appeals to your polylingual ultra-geek side..."

Daniel couldn't help but smile a little at the moniker. "I knew it." He carefully stowed his wedding ring in his pocket as Vala suddenly feigned innocence. "I knew it was you that referred to me as that." When Cam looked embarrassed, Daniel continued with a shrug, "Getting your polys mixed up with your multis... it had to be either you or Jack... but Jack doesn't usually bother getting all elaborate with his insults."

Cam shrugged. "What can I say, I'm nothing if not elaborate."

Teal'c cleared his throat. "Indeed."

Cam glared at the Jaffa semi-seriously. He then asked Daniel, "You gonna eat something?"

Daniel appeared reluctant. "I ate something earlier..."

"Hey, we don't know when we're gonna walk out here, okay?" The Colonel left the 'if' unsaid. "It could be hours, days... whatever. It looks like we're gonna have to find whatever this thing is first. You've gotta take every opportunity you can get."

Daniel nodded wearily. "I know. I guess I'm just tired." The others exchanged concerned glances, knowing that his utterance had many meanings. Daniel began to gingerly pick at a plate of food, his thoughts both far away and on their immediate situation.

Vala asked, curious yet concerned, "Any ideas about this so-called weapon?"

Daniel sighed as he tiredly ran a hand through his dishevelled hair. "I seriously doubt that it is a weapon... I hope not, anyway. There must have been something to start off the myth... and they freely admit that they had lost the knowledge of what it is. I think it's tied in with who Thetis actually was. She could have been a Tok'ra perhaps... or maybe even an Ancient like Oma. She may not have been either..."

Teal'c nodded thoughtfully. "If Thetis were a Goa'uld, she is not one that I am familiar with. And we are presently unable to contact the Tok'ra to request assistance."

Daniel stood up. "Well... we'd better get to it. The sooner we find this thing, the sooner we might be able to go home again."

Cam looked at the Archaeologist, slightly accusing. "You sure you okay?"

Daniel replied as he polished his recently recovered glasses as the rest of the team got to their feet. "I'm fine. I'm fine. You guys have had a much rougher time than I have."


	12. Chapter 12

Sam looked up at the inside of the thatched roof of the roundhouse that they were in. As the only light came from small electronic torches that illuminated the rudimentary radio equipment, much of the roof appeared dark. She switched on the torch of her P-90, and she shone the much brighter light into the roof, inwardly startled on seeing a row of what appeared to be bats hanging upside down as they slept. She switched the light off before looking at Jack, who continued to talk to... or rather snap at Alaric,

"For the last time... show us where you last saw my people!"

Sam sighed softly. If only they had had Daniel there to prevent Jack from being potentially killed. But then again, if Daniel had been there, the rest of her team wouldn't have gone after him, and then there wouldn't have been any reason for her and Jack to be in Tuweiia. Sam tapped her radio and quietly called into it as she turned away,

"Odyssey, this is Jackson... what's the status on SG-1's position?"

When she didn't get a reply, she tried again, and again. She turned back to Jack to find the General looking at her with guarded curiosity. She said, fiddling with a small dial on the top of her radio, "Can't get a signal, Sir. There appears to be some kind of interference."

Jack looked at Alaric accusingly, and Sam said to the Chieftain, "Alaric, please... I need to contact our ship... they can help us; they can help you too."

Alaric replied grimly, "What is there to help? Your people are dead."

All hints of pleading disappeared from the Colonel's voice. She sensed that there was something more to the Chieftain's fatalism than simply a quirk of culture. "Let me contact them." She kept her voice and her gaze level as her insides began to contract as she fought with her emotions; as she fought between the deep ties with her friends and her husband, and the ties with her duty and responsibilities. "It is our custom to locate our dead so that they can be laid to rest at home." In her peripheral vision, as she stared Alaric out, she could see Jack slowly moving towards her. She continued, stories and facts Daniel had related to her on various occasions piecing together in her mind as she fought to keep her mind afloat, keep it from sinking into absolute despair, "And as Daniel was... is my husband..." Her gaze dropped involuntarily. She didn't want to cry in front of him, to show him a weakness that he could exploit, but she couldn't help it. Daniel's welfare always had been a sore issue with her, even prior to their relationship... but what didn't particularly help the construction of a comprehensible argument were the many hormones in her bloodstream.

Now far closer to her but not touching her, Jack said to Alaric, his voice a little rough from contemplating the possibility of everyone's deaths, especially Daniel's, "We're gonna find our people... we don't need your help." He looked at Sam, giving her a moment as he gave her shoulder a squeeze. "Carter?"

Sam composed herself and said, looking at him, "I'm fine."

Alaric retorted to Jack's assertion, "You require it. You do not know where to begin to search."

Sam stepped in before Jack could insult the man, her hands raised as Alaric stepped towards the General. "Please... just let me contact our ship. We know you have the technology."

After a moment's hesitation, the Chieftain gestured towards the equipment. "My apologies, Colonel... but your quest will be fruitless."

She walked past him to the equipment that he had gestured to, quickly sizing up how it worked. "We have our ways."

Jack asked, "Carter, can you make it work?"

She squinted a little. "Uh... it's pretty rudimentary, Sir."

"As in...?" Jack gestured impatiently.

She glanced at him. "Yes Sir. I've just got to find the right frequency to contact the Odyssey."

"Right..." As Sam got to work, he said to Alaric, trying to strike up conversation now that the tension of earlier had dissipated somewhat. "So... _Alaric_... what does that mean?"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

After fiddling with many dials and buttons, and much trial and error, Sam frowned. How had Alaric contacted them? This equipment flatly refused to reach the frequency required to contact the Odyssey. She said, still fiddling, "Uh... Alaric? Could you..." She looked in Alaric's direction, or rather where he had been earlier, only to find the Chieftain's soldiers pointing what appeared to be energy weapons at Jack, whose P-90 had been taken away.

Sam sighed as others pointed weapons towards her and she raised her hands in surrender, knowing that shooting her way out was not an option. Her face emotionless, she looked at Jack, asking for an explanation... potentially involving something that he had done. "Jack?"

One minute she was standing, the next, she was almost knocked off her feet by Alaric himself, who had slapped her across her face with an overwhelming force. In the confusion, one of the soldiers stripped her of her weapons, hitting Jack in the face with the butt of his own P-90 when he protested out loud at her treatment,

"Hey! There's no need for that! Agh!"

Alaric, his face now a twisted mask of vehemence, said, or rather bellowed, "You will not speak until you are spoken to, woman. I care not which world you claim to be from. Women here behave like women. They do not wear the clothing of men, and they certainly do not carry weaponry or even touch technology... let alone rule lands like that brazen bitch, Riape. I have tolerated you long enough."

Sam glared up at him as she was forced to her knees, the Colonel wiping blood from her lip as she inconspicuously guarded her abdomen. Hopefully the Odyssey would be on alert once no radio contact had been received from them, the personnel on-board all aware of Sam's pregnancy. Hopefully too, she thought, Daniel and the rest of her friends had yet again managed to avert death and/or disaster, and were safe somewhere.

She could only hope that she, Jack, and her unborn child would get out of there with their lives.

Sam asked, daring Alaric to hit her again, "What do you want from us? Technology? For what? Bombs? So you can..." He looked as though he was going to hit her again, so she swept her leg out, taking his feet out from under him as the soldiers hastily aimed their weapons at her. Alaric stumbled, the Chieftain being helped to his feet by his retinue. Soldiers physically restrained the Colonel, who struggled against them.

As Jack looked concerned for Sam's welfare, Alaric stood over her, replying, "I require you and your so-called 'superior' technology to locate something... something which will end Riapean treachery forever. We will launch an attack on Riapean soil tonight, when the moons have reached their zenith. The people that you have left outside have submitted their weaponry... as have you. We have more than enough to win back Riapea, and the weapon that will once and for all prove that Tuweiian sovereignty is the one chosen by Donar himself."

Sam shot a look of muted panic in Jack's direction, the General meeting her gaze with his own unwavering one, silently reassuring her that, like on previous occasions, there would be a way out somehow.

Jack casually remarked, attempting to direct the Tuweiians' attention from Sam to prevent further injury on her part, "Donner? Isn't he one of Santa's reindeer? Or are we talking Turkish kebabs here? I like the lamb one, but apparently my cholesterol levels are through the roof, so..."

Sam flinched as Jack grunted in pain when he was beaten by one of their captors. She looked at the General in concern, wanting to ask if he was alright, but knowing that she could be next in line for a beating. Jack nodded imperceptibly, sensing her inner turmoil, and she blinked a little slower in reply.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The rest of SG-1, meanwhile, along with SG-3 and Riape, walked through torch-lit stone passages, the party under heavy guard by the Queen's personal guard detail. The guards surrounded the SG-teams as Riape persisted in walking at Daniel's side, leading the party through the complex maze of uniformly cut passages. Riape, a dark hooded robe over a rich gown asked as she looked at Daniel, "How much further, Daniel Jackson?"

The others looked at him too, Vala putting a discreet yet supporting hand on his back as he replied quietly, "Not much, I don't think. I found it quite hard to understand the ancient measurements in some of the old records. If we had the right person with us who..." He stopped, not wanting to deepen his depression over the uncertainty of them ever seeing home again.

Riape looked at him curiously, and he shook his head, looking down at the map that he held. "Never mind."

She said brightly, sensing his discomfort, and seeking to ease it, "Tell me about Mother Thetis."

"There's nothing more that I can tell you that isn't outright speculation. You deserve more than that if you want to know more about where your people came from."

She smirked briefly at Cam, who fought the urge to roll his eyes. "As Colonel Mitchell would say, I am constructed of ears."

SG-3 and the rest of SG-1 exchanged glances, Teal'c clamping down on Vala's arm to stop her from correcting the Queen. Daniel paused and then said, "Yeah." He sighed. "Well... it's very likely that your people and the Tuweiians came through the Stargate... the Ring of Thetis, from Earth. The gods that you mentioned... all of them I can trace back to our world. Thetis, Hera, Demeter, Artemis, Eos... but no male gods. Your society appears to be a matriarchy – female-dominated – something not as common as it used to be on Earth."

Riape frowned a little. "But how do you pass on power to the next generation? A female is required to validate authority... to carry the bloodline."

Daniel nodded, his face lighting up with excitement. "Many ancient cultures in the history of my world had societies in which women were the dominant gender or where sovereignty passed matrilineally. The prehistoric Greeks – your possible ancestors on my world before they were subjugated by Indo-European invaders – had a matriarchy. There's evidence in many myths that survived the switch-over to patriarchy." The other SG personnel exchanged amused glances as Daniel's speech sped up as they continued to walk, Riape appearing to hang onto every word of the Archaeologist's. "Helen and Menelaus, for instance... Menelaus becomes King of Sparta by marrying Helen, even though she has two brothers who are perfectly fit to rule. In many accounts, however, to not conflict with the patriarchy of Ancient Greece after the Indo-European invasion, the brothers are said to have ascended to Olympus... but the fact remains that the Royal bloodline was carried through her. There were similar traditions in the House of David."

Riape smiled. "We have old stories of Helene and Menelaos... how Helene followed her heart instead of tradition, and left with Alexandros for the land of Ilium... which started a war." She chuckled. "It is typical of menfolk to be ruled by pride."

The men, other than an engrossed Daniel, glanced at each other as Vala smirked. Cam then said, "Hate to break up the cultural discourse... which I'm sure is hugely fascinating... but you're going to have to bottom line stuff to stay focussed. We don't know how much time we have... with no radio contact possible right now, we don't even know what the status is of things above ground."

Vala added, looking exasperated, "And believe me when I say that even I won't forgive you, Daniel, if we end up walking miles more than we should because you've taken a wrong turn thanks to fantasising about goddesses." She sighed as everyone looked at her. "I was one once... and it certainly wasn't a pleasant experience for all involved."

There was a long moment of silence, broken by footsteps of the party against the rough stone floor. Eventually Daniel asked, glancing at his map again, "How far did the previous search parties get?"

Riape replied, looking somewhat embarrassed, "Certainly not as far as this." When Daniel looked at her quizzically, she continued, "We did not have scanning devices at our disposal."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Major Marks, aboard the Odyssey, repeatedly attempted to contact General O'Neill and Colonel Jackson on the ground. When all attempts had failed, much to the Major's consternation, Captain Binder asked as Marks quickly tapped into his console, "Major?"

Marks replied, "I can't seem to establish radio contact with the General or the Colonel... they've been down there for a couple of hours now... I can't seem to get a lock on them to beam them out. I can't even track their subcutaneous transmitters or those of SGs 1 and 3." He scratched his head in thought, looking flummoxed. "For a bunch of folk with basic tech, these guys are pretty damn advanced."

"What's going on? Can you fix it?"

"There's some kind of signal jamming in place." Marks straightened up in his seat as he continued to type into his console, "I'm going to have to... they could have walked straight into a trap."

Binder looked concerned. "Sir, I'm assembling a team..."

Marks shook his head. "Not just yet, Captain... beaming isn't going to work."

Binder frowned. "With all respect, it may have escaped your notice, but we're short on time right now. Colonel Jackson's welfare is paramount here due to her condition. For all we know, we're the General and the Colonel's final hope. Whatever it is that you're going to do..."

Marks glanced up at him, still working as he replied calmly, "I'm well aware of that. Have your men on standby. We'll call in reinforcements from Stargate Command if necessary." He glanced at the ship's view screen, seeing the planet that they were in orbit of, and silently hoping that it wasn't the end for the General, SG-1 and SG-3. "We're getting them home."


	13. Chapter 13

Sam sat huddled in a corner of a dark cell, the floor strewn with straw. The only light came from one of the two moons orbiting the planet, and only a tiny amount of that light came through the barred window – certainly not anything to read by, let alone to hope by. Stripped of all of her weaponry and standard issue items, she, like millions of women in times of ancient warfare, was at the mercy of the enemy. She had long given up attempting to escape via the door or the window. Fear for the fate of her unborn child prevented her from trying to overcome the guards for a second time. The first time, when she had been roughly thrown to the floor, was scary enough.

Her thoughts were with her husband and her friends too. She had no idea of their fate, and that of Jack and the men that had accompanied them as well. She and Jack at least had been separately incarcerated by their captor, for fear – an admittedly well-founded fear at that – that the two would concoct an escape plan together. Now she was left, helpless and alone, without knowledge, and without the hope she so desperately needed. She couldn't even bring herself to cry, so she sat, frozen in the same corner for hours on end. Time became immaterial to her. There was no point if you were doomed to count the days and hours to your demise... it would happen anyway, regardless.

As she was about to fall into an uneasy sleep, exhausted from her treatment and emotional turmoil, the door of her cell rattled. She cast an apprehensive eye in that direction as she discreetly removed her belt from her trousers, holding it behind her as she got ready to defend herself.

At last the door opened, and she closed her eyes, not wanting to look at her captor, not wanting to know what he could do to her. She opened her eyes in surprise, however, when a rather familiar voice said quietly,

"Carter... dammit, come on, you better not be giving up on me now."

Sam saw Jack kneel at her side, checking her over. She said, surprised, "Jack?"

"One and the same." He touched her cheek. "They do anything to you?"

"I..." She paused, shaking herself mentally. "I'm fine. How did you..."

"Come on... I was always saving yours and Daniel's asses back in the day..." He paused in thought. "No... not all the time, I'll admit. T saved the lot of us most of the time. Anyway... my point is that I've done it so many times that I got quite good at it as I seem to remember." He stood up and offered her his hand. "Can you walk?"

She groaned a little in discomfort. "I don't know. I can't remember how long I've been here for." She took his hand and closed her eyes as she struggled to stand.

"By my estimations, it's been something like a week."

When she had got to her feet, Jack steadying her by putting his arm around her, Sam asked, surprised and then confused, "A week? I..."

"A couple of days probably. I know... it feels weird. Looks like Aladdin and his magic carpets didn't get their asses in drive like they said they would... or they didn't take us along for the ride. Bastards." He glanced at the doorway. "Come on, Carter... those guys won't stay out cold for long." He smirked briefly as he helped her out of the cell. "Still got it after all this time... dammit, I miss this job."

Sam raised an eyebrow on seeing the way beyond the cell littered with the unconscious bodies of Tuweiian guards. "You never do anything by halves, do you, Jack?"

"Don't ask what you already know the answer to."

Sam smirked tiredly. "Was that a preposition?"

"Was that a cell I just rescued you from? A little more gratitude for me saving your ass, please." He let go of her when he was satisfied that she could walk by herself. "Now, come on, let's do some intel gathering and get ourselves outta here."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Having reached the end of yet another stone tunnel, SG-1, SG-3, and Riape and her escorts, stumbled out into a large chamber constructed of the same stone. They each gazed up at their surroundings in awe as their torches illuminated huge arches that swept across the unimaginably high ceiling; fluted columns that dwarfed every last one of the people present. Daniel gawped in amazement at what he could see.

"This is... unbelievable."

Teal'c asked as Cam stopped a curious Vala from wandering away, "What is this place?"

Daniel replied in a low voice, sounding amazed, "I have no idea. All of the sources have different thoughts about what was beyond the passages we've just come through. Not one of them mention this... which, I guess, is understandable as no-one's ever been down this far... not for a long, long time." He did a double-take when he checked the scanning device that he held. "We're fifty kilometres below the surface of Riapea."

Cam remarked with a low whistle as he spun around, "I really do not want to think about how many times I could fit the family farm in here. Damn."

Riape, her face with flushed with the excitement of the moment, asked as she turned to look at Daniel, "Where else must we go, Daniel Jackson?"

Daniel shook his head, looking flummoxed as his gaze eventually moved to the Queen's. "I don't know. I honestly don't know. No-one's been this far, as you said. It was easy for them to guess about the tunnels... but not so about this." He sighed as he contemplated yet again how far away they were from home. "I guess we're just going to have to poke around."

Cam asked, "What are we looking for?"

Daniel replied after a pause, "Something not made of stone, probably."

Everyone was about to pair off when a crackling noise could be heard. The SG-teams exchanged surprised glances as they realised that the sound originated from their radios. Cam grabbed his when Riape said, looking alarmed, "Colonel Mitchell, be aware that your people are not the only ones who possess radio technology. I advise you to exercise caution as you speak."

Cam nodded in acknowledgement and simply called into his radio, "Hey, who's calling?" He sighed on not getting a coherent reply and after many attempts, he said to the initially hopeful faces around him as he replaced his radio. "It might be the Odyssey... but Riape's right, we don't know split."

Daniel said, remembering previous SG-1 missions, "We're under a lot of rock... and then there's the signal jamming that the Tuweiians have put in place... if the Odyssey have got past the jamming signal, which I have no doubt that they will if they haven't already, the signal is going to deteriorate substantially depending on the composition of the rock. In free space, a radio signal's strength decreases by a factor of four..."

Cam cut him off with a wave of his hand. "Bottom line, Jackson... although I'm tickled pink we're not completely screwed on the science without your wife."

Daniel stared at him for a moment. "We have Reynolds. He's a Physics major."

Reynolds, as if on cue, piped up, "Inverse Square Law. That only applies to free space though. The factor's gonna be higher through that rock... and depending what's in it."

Cam nodded in acknowledgement and then looked at the assembled personnel. "Okay... Reynolds... two of your men guard the tunnel; another two as back-up..." He slapped a gigantic column that loomed above him. "... behind these mommas." He looked at SG-1 and Riape's party, noting not for the first time the way that Riape looked at Daniel. "I'd suggest a split but our radios aren't doing anything..." He frowned on noticing that a distracted Daniel had wandered off, and he sighed. "Just follow Jackson and keep the boy alive. He sure ain't gonna do it himself."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Jack and Sam trudged through the rainforest in the dark, both too cautious to use any sort of artificial light for guidance. They, however, regretted this decision on many occasions as they had to force their way through tough vines and other such vegetation with only the planet's moons for light. As the General sliced his way through a vine, using a standard issue knife that he had managed to hold on to, Sam asked tiredly as she helped him to hold up the vine in question,

"How do you do it, Jack?"

Jack grimaced as he instantly retorted, "Just a decent knife and a hell of a lot of willpower." He glanced at her, concern briefly showing on his face. He then stopped cutting and dropped the vine. "Don't give up on me now, Carter. We've just got to get through this damn thing and we're home free... well, sort of... but..."

She looked in the direction of where they had to go, not seeing anything in the darkness, and not knowing how much more rainforest there was. "What's the point?" She sniffed back tears that wouldn't come earlier. "They're out there... we don't know if the Riapeans are waiting for us on the other side, or whether the Tuweiians are on our tails or have sounded the alarm. We don't know a lot of things. We're practically unarmed..."

He stabbed a nearby tree with his knife, leaving the weapon there. He turned to her and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Stop it." He gave her a little shake, forcing her to meet his gaze. "We're getting out of here. We're going to find out what's happened, okay? While there is the slightest chance that our people are still alive, we have a duty... no, a responsibility to go after them."

Forgetting that she didn't have to be totally formal with him, she asked, looking forlorn, "But how do you do it, Sir? How do you keep the faith like that?"

He sighed wearily. "I have to, Carter. It's the only thing that keeps me going." He let her shoulders go and gave her a pat on the back. "Now come on, we've got some people to save." He smiled slightly. "Like the old days, huh?" She managed to smile a little and she picked up the vine again, proceeding to cut it herself. "That's my Carter. Let's go kick some ass. These fuckers don't know who they're messing with." She shot him a look and he raised his eyebrows. "Carter, your kid isn't here... and your little unborn kid can't hear me yet." He smirked. "Just as well. He'd learn how to distil moonshine in there."

The vine cut, they made their way through the rainforest; trudging, slicing, ripping for hours on end. At last, as their tiredness threatened to stop them dead in their tracks, an unnatural light was visible through the trees. The two Air Force officers squinted at it and then at each other to make sure that they weren't hallucinating. They cut through the last of the vegetation, and were about to leave the rainforest when Jack stopped, holding his fist in front of his former second-in-command. She stopped too and he signalled with two fingers that they should move to their right, skirting the edge of the rainforest rather than emerging straight into the unknown.

With a nod, she walked around the inside edge of the tree-line, Jack following suit after taking a moment to survey their surroundings. The view of what lie beyond obscured in part by hanging vines and leaves, both officers could make out a large marble building built in a Greek style. They spotted what appeared to be guards patrolling the area, and Sam shot a concerned glance in Jack's direction.

Jack whispered when they stopped to peer through some leaves, "Well, I'm guessing our guys are in this place."

"Nicely hypothesised... but how do we get in?"

He patted her shoulder as he went past her, moving further along the tree-line. "Just like the old days, Colonel. Gracefully slip past the big scary guys."

Sam remarked, looking tired and sceptical as she followed him, "Yeah... of course."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

A tired Marks frowned as he continued to work at his station aboard the Odyssey. He frowned a little harder as he forced his mind to focus on the task in hand rather than succumb to sleep. Binder stood next to him and asked, looking concerned, "Sir, anything?"

The Major replied, not looking at the Captain, "I've managed to neutralise the jamming signal, but I can't seem to locate General O'Neill and Colonel Jackson's team. A group of transmitter signals kept appearing for very short lengths of time... what we received were signal fragments, but I'm willing to bet my pension that that was SG-1."

Binder asked, looking hopeful, "They're still alive?"

"I don't know. The signals originated from under about thirty miles of rock in the Riapean territory... and the rocks in that region appear to be composed of around ten to as much as twenty-five percent of Naquadah. From previous experience, radio signals can't penetrate large concentrations of Naquadah."

"What about the General's team?"

"I did pick up something very briefly somewhere in the rainforest that separates the western Tuweiian settlement from Riapea. It was very short... I'm not even sure of what it was." Marks grimaced. "Unfortunately, the vegetation contains high concentrations of Naquadah too."

"Damn."

"My thoughts exactly."

Binder asked, looking worried as he regarded the Major's composure and physical state, "Sir... will you be taking a break soon?"

Marks replied calmly as he concentrated on what he was doing, "Every second that they're down there, their lives are at risk... so no, Captain. I will not be taking a break until I know that all of our people are safe and accounted for."

Binder nodded in acknowledgement, and then asked, glancing at Marks' console, "Is there anything that I can do, Sir?"

"You could help me re-route power from all non-essential systems..." Marks glanced at the Captain. "This is gonna take a lot of juice."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

SG-1 and Riape's party stood around a large ornately drawn circle on the floor of the chamber. Inside the circle was a spiral of roughly hewn oval slabs, leading to a circular slab in the centre. Riape's escort illuminated the circle with their torches as Daniel stopped them and his friends from stepping onto it. As a crouching Daniel carefully examined the surface of the slabs nearest to his edge of the circle, Riape asked,

"What is this, Daniel Jackson?"

Daniel replied as he lightly traced a character on the surface of a slab, "It must be the Circle of Thetis mentioned in many of the sources. No-one knew where it was... but it was described pretty much as this... _a gilded circle with flattened circles within_." He looked up at the Queen. "Aren't there legends... old stories of something like this?"

Riape crouched down next to the Archaeologist and replied, frowning a little as she looked into the circle, "Nothing comes to mind... but I remember when I was a young girl, the old barbaric practice of 'Circle Judging' was still used. In a criminal trial, the accused were made to stand within the confines of a circle when the Sun was at its zenith. If they were guilty, it was believed that they would cast a shadow over the Bell of Justice which was placed before them." She made a face. "As you can surmise, it was considerably unfair and was exploited by many of the corrupt ministers in my mother's Cabinet whom my mother had rather foolishly trusted."

Daniel nodded, raising his eyebrows to himself as he considered what she had told him. She suddenly smiled on remembering something, and she looked at him. "Something has come to mind." Daniel looked at her in interest. "There are stories that the origins of that custom were in an old tradition where a dispute between two women claiming to be Riape was settled when the rightful Riape stepped into a circle like this and stepped on the stones in the right order. Until now, I only believed this to be a story to enchant small girls."

Cam asked, looking curious as Daniel stared into the circle in thought, "What happened?"

Riape looked up at the Colonel in confusion when she had managed to tear her eyes away from Daniel. "Where?"

"In the story about the two women fighting over the throne."

"Oh... the correct stones shone like gold, and a circle in the middle rose with her crown upon it." Riape sighed as her gaze returned to Daniel once again. "Perhaps there is truth in that old story after all."

Daniel regarded her as Teal'c remarked from behind them, "There usually is much more to legends than you would think."

Daniel added, nodding, "You'll be surprised just how much of mythology is grounded in fact." He looked at the circle once again and exhaled as he traced a letter on a slab. He asked her, "Do you recognise these letters?"

Riape squinted a little as she examined the stones, and then she smiled. "I recognise these symbols. It is an old script used for ceremonial purposes a long time ago. I only know it because my mother made sure to learn it to increase her public appeal."

"Do you know what the sequence is?"

"I do not... but I think perhaps it could be a secret word known only to maybe an entrusted few. There would be no need for all of this if the word was commonplace."

Vala kneeled on the other side of Daniel as she too squinted at the stones. "The lady's got a point. What are we looking for?"

Daniel replied, looking perplexed, "I was thinking that perhaps this would be..." He trailed off, realising something. He turned to Vala. "Have you got a mirror on you?" Vala appeared surprised and he rolled his eyes. "Come on... you're not exactly inconspicuous when you're applying eyeliner in the middle of a trade negotiation."

As Cam snickered quietly, Vala reached into a pocket, pulling out a small pocket mirror as she remarked, "You know... if you keep noticing things about me like that, your wife is going to kill you."

Daniel stared at her blankly before bending over the circle as he stood the mirror on its side on a slab. He did this to other slabs and then smiled. "I know this script too." He thanked Vala for the mirror as he returned it, and he turned to Riape. "On our world, we call it Linear B. It's the language that much of the works in your library were written in." He pointed to the circle. "This, however, has the symbols backwards." He got to his feet, carefully helping the Queen up. "Well... I guess all we have to do now is get the right word to unlock this. It's fascinating."

Teal'c remarked, "I suggest 'Jehovah'."

The others looked at him, the members of SG-1 looking at him in surprise while the Riapeans looked confused. Daniel smiled slightly as Cam added with a mischievous expression, "Don't forget that it starts with 'I' in Latin. Not gonna pull your heavy ass out of there in time if you drop through."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Jack reached the large marble building and, after checking that the coast was clear, waved Sam over from the closest edge of the tree-line. The Colonel darted across the clearing, joining her former commanding officer. He signalled with two fingers that they were going to enter the building and she nodded. She followed him up some steps, their eyes on the soldiers that they had seen previously in the main part of the clearing below. The two officers pressed their backs against a huge column that was one of several that supported the large porch of the building. She whispered, peeking around the structure,

"A little too easy, don't ya think?"

"Hey, don't jinx it!" He pointed to a doorway several metres away from them. "I'm guessing we go in this way. Let's roll, Carter."

She shook her head, keeping an eye on the guards in the courtyard behind them. "That would be suicide. Let's go one at a time. That way, if one of us gets caught, the other can still make a break for it."

"Not gonna happen."

"Dammit, Jack..."

"No way am I leaving you by yourself. You wouldn't even be here right now if you hadn't used that Jackson brand of downright stubbornness. The Carter I once knew would never have forced Hank to endanger the welfare of a pregnant woman under his command." He grabbed her hand. "On three." She sighed and silently agreed as they both checked that the coast was clear. He then whispered, "Three!" and they crouched down, running across the porch to the main entrance.

Inside, they flanked the doorway, their backs against the wall as they caught their breath. They looked at each other and then peeked out of the doorway, Sam whispering, "Do you think they saw us?"

He was about to reply when he turned to face the main chamber, only to be confronted by a host of soldiers aiming their weapons at them. He grimaced, raising his hands slowly as Sam eventually turned. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm thinking 'yes' here."

Sam, inwardly scared, raised her hands, and Jack remarked, cocking his head, "How ya doin'?"

The soldiers appeared to be conferring amongst themselves, glancing at the officers every so often. Sam and Jack exchanged a glance. One of the soldiers, who appeared to be in charge, asked, "Who are you?"

Before Jack could say something inappropriate, Sam stepped forward slowly, her hands still raised as she maintained eye contact with the soldier, "I am Colonel Samantha Jackson, and this is General Jack O'Neill. We're from Earth. Some our people are missing presumed..." She forced herself to control her welling emotions. "... dead in your territory." Jack grimaced at the word 'dead', and was about to speak when a group of men in sheepskin ran through the main doorway.

As the soldiers aimed their weapons at them instead, the sheepskin men put their weapons on the ground, raising their hands as one of them said, "Do not shoot! Surveillance group Ri-A-Pe-Ka reporting for duty! I am Commander Rhadamanthus! And these people are Her Imperial Highness' guests!" Rhadamanthus then shed his sheepskin robe, holding up a necklace that he wore around his neck.

After a pause, the leader of the soldiers appeared to be listening to something as she pressed something in his ear. She then said to her comrades, "This man speaks the truth. Lower your weapons."

Rhadamanthus then turned to Jack and Sam with a smirk as the soldiers took his and his team's weaponry. "We were planning on setting you free but you did it yourselves. We also followed you in the forest to ensure that you reached Riapea."

Jack asked with a frown, "Why?"

"I am afraid that Alaric lied to you. Your people are alive and well." Sam breathed a sigh of relief but remained cautious. "Alaric intends to attack Riapea, but he will not use the forest as it is under heavy surveillance. We managed to persuade him that it was not in his best interests to parade you in chains as he had intended."

Sam and Jack exchanged a worried glance, and Sam asked, "What about our people? You said that they are still alive."

"I do not know. I and my men have been in Tuweiian territory for a long time." Rhadamanthus beckoned the leader of the soldiers over. "Commander Alara... please attend to Her Highness' guests."

Alara approached them as Rhadamanthus bowed. "I must take my leave. I hope to see you soon."

Sam nodded and Jack waved as Rhadamanthus and his men left to be debriefed. Alara said to the officers with a smile. "My apologies for such ill treatment. This nation is on high alert due to the Tuweiian threat. Please. Follow me." Jack and Sam walked with the Commander, who continued, "Your people are well. At this moment, they are assisting Riape in searching for the cause of the troubles between Riapea and Tuweiia."

Jack asked as Sam looked concerned, "What are they looking for?"

"It is believed to be a weapon which will bring peace."

Sam appeared even more concerned, and Jack said, looking perturbed, "A nuke?"

They stopped in an ornate chamber where the officers were invited to sit as maids tended to them. Alara frowned in confusion. "Please... that is not a word that I am familiar with."

Politely fending off a maid who wanted to remove her clothes, Sam replied, "A nuclear weapon. It's a very powerful and dangerous weapon." Jack rolled his eyes as Sam launched into an explanation. "It works by creating an enormous amount of energy from the splitting of the nuclei of atoms of heavy elements such as..." Jack held up his hand and she cut short her explanation. "We have them on our world... and they have caused nothing but unimaginable death and destruction."

Alara replied contemplatively, "I do not know the nature of the weapon... or whether it is a weapon at all. Riape has a keen interest in the old stories, and she seeks to establish peace."

"Well, a weapon never causes peace." She shot a panicked look in Jack's direction. "We have to find our people. A nuclear weapon is a far more dangerous threat than Alaric's forces. We have to find them. Do you know where they went?"

"We cannot transmit radio signals due to Tuweiia blocking them, but I am able to monitor where your people are... our equipment discovered that they emitted a number of different signals, some which we did not recognise." Noticing that the officers hadn't eaten anything, and how worried they looked, Alara said, "Come, if you are not tired, we will follow them."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Daniel crouched at the side of the circle and watched as Riape stepped on the slabs in different sequences. SG-1 and the Queen's escort watched each time as the stones lit up with each step but when Riape reached the central circle,the entire circle dimmed. While Vala taught some of the guards, and a grumpy Teal'c, how to play hopscotch, Daniel asked,

"Are there any other words that have been in your family for a long time? From old legends perhaps?"

Riape shook her head. "I cannot think of any more. I have tried the name of our country, my title even... the names of every Riape mentioned in our records." She looked at him curiously. "You said that you knew this language."

Daniel replied, shaking his head as he stood, "No, I said that I know this _script_. There is still so much scholars of my world don't know about this. It hasn't been used in thousands of years. The region in which they used that language have a very different writing system now... the script that I showed you in my notebook earlier."

She nodded as she stepped out of the circle, the Queen looking as though she was thinking very hard. Daniel walked around the circle and said, "I thought this seemed familiar. This looks like the Phaistos disc from back home... except that doesn't have this circle in the middle... and this is in Linear B whereas Phaistos is in a script with some similarities to an obscure dialect of Goa'uld. And here the letters are in ovals and not rectangles."

He walked around the circle, peering at the different symbols as he thought aloud, "What if these symbols were carved onto these stones backwards? We already know that the old ceremonial script is actually Linear B but backwards." He looked at Riape. "Your language probably originated from here. Whoever carved this may have wanted to keep the sequence a secret so they made sure that whoever came after them wouldn't be able to make sense out of it. The sounds you attribute to each of these reverse letters are completely different from the sound of the actual letter when it's the right way. It's perfect. No-one in your world knows how to read Linear B."

Cam, intrigued, asked as Vala stopped her game out of interest, "So what's the magic word?"

"It could be the name of whoever carved this." Daniel was about to step into the circle when they could hear Reynolds shout in the distance.

"Colonel Mitchell!"

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound, and Cam shouted back, figuring that it must be safe if Reynolds was waiting for an answer, "What?"

"We've got guests!"

"Dark side?"

There was a pause and SG-1 paused in surprise on hearing Jack shout, "No, we got green and blue light sabres, Padwan!"

SG-1 began to smile in relief, and Riape asked, looking curious as her guards moved to stand around her, "Who is that?"

Daniel replied, smiling a little, "It's our friend. He made it from Tuweiia." The Archaeologist was about to step in the circle again when Cam said, grabbing him by the shoulder,

"Wait for the General. We could do with the extra manpower and funny cusses if you fall. Just... think up some words ringside."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Jack, Sam, and Alara and a small team of soldiers made their way from the doorway of the large chamber, leaving SG-3 on guard. Alara asked, glancing back as Reynolds and his men organised themselves once again, "How many more of your people are here?"

Jack replied with a shrug, "It's anyone's guess." He looked at Sam in concern. "Carter, you okay?"

Sam remarked tiredly, "I will be when we can go home."

He rubbed her back in a comforting gesture. "Not long now."

The team could make out some blazing torches in the distance before them, which pierced the heavy darkness of the chamber. Sam glanced at him and asked, looking hopeful, "Now?"

He smiled, wanting to see their friends just as much as she did. "Now."

He grabbed her hand and they began to run towards the light, Sam remarking as Alara's team began to run too in order to keep up with the officers, "I'm not a kid, Jack."

"You're pregnant. If you fall, Daniel will have my head. Normally, I wouldn't mind, but it would be pretty negligent of me." He forced her to slow a little. "Not so fast... same reason." He smirked. "Keep this exercise routine up and when Junior comes to term, he or she's gonna shoot out in no time."

"Jack... shut up."

Sam grinned in relief on recognising Teal'c and Vala, and then Cam and a crouching Daniel. The team and some other people turned to face them, Daniel getting to his feet. At last, they reached them, the team looking at Sam in surprise. Cam, Teal'c and Vala hugged Sam in greeting, and Daniel looked at Jack accusingly,

"Jack?"

Jack smiled on seeing that Daniel was okay, if only a little tired, "You're forgetting something... your wife is almost as stubborn as you. Couldn't stop her. You should have heard her yell at Hank." As Teal'c checked his radio, Jack gave Daniel an affectionate pat on the back before stepping back so that Sam could see her husband.

Sam, now looking emotional as she looked from her friends to Daniel, said, "We thought you were all dead. Alaric..."

Cam remarked, looking annoyed, "Oh, I wouldn't go listening to that lamewad."

Jack replied, "Yeah, we got that."

Sam stared at Daniel as he calmly regarded her as Riape turned away awkwardly. Sam then flung herself at him, holding him tight as he held her, his eyes closed. As he fought to remain conscious due to the tight grip she had on him, he looked at Jack, who tried to look away from the scene. "Thanks Jack."

Jack shook his head and patted Sam's back. "Don't thank me. Thank Carter. She insisted on taking the Odyssey for a spin." He looked at Teal'c. "Any luck?"

Teal'c replied, looking grim as he replaced his radio, "No... but we are beneath a lot of rock."

When Sam eventually let go, Daniel asked as he gazed at her, touching her cheek, "Are you okay?"

Sam nodded quickly, not wanting him to worry. She looked over his shoulder at the other guards and at Riape. She frowned as she recognised the woman, and she looked at Daniel again. "Isn't that..."

Daniel nodded as he followed her gaze. "Yep... well, sort of. She was in disguise when we first met her. Sam, I'd like to introduce you to Riape, the Queen of Riapea." With his arm around her, he approached Riape. "And, this, your Highness, is my wife, Colonel Samantha Jackson."

Riape nodded, trying to keep her face neutral as Cam whispered something to Jack, who raised his eyebrows in the Queen's direction and then smirked. "Ah, yes, I remember. It is a pleasure to meet you again."

Daniel smiled as he then turned to show Sam the circle that they were standing next to. "We're looking for something... the sources I consulted say that it's..."

Sam suddenly froze, remembering why she and Jack had come after SG-1. She glanced at Jack uneasily. "The Commander of the Palace guard mentioned a weapon. Daniel... if it's what I think it is, you don't want to find it without proper equipment. It could be a nuclear weapon. There's a lot of Naquadah on this planet... you could take out half the galaxy if it goes off."

Daniel shook his head. "No... no, I don't think it is a weapon. A legend's been built up around this place to protect it. Even the letters on the slabs here are backwards... they're actually Linear B, but backwards, Riape recognised it as a ceremonial script, and no-one could read the Linear B in the library. Someone was trying to hide something... and a weapon doesn't bring peace. The particulars about this were deliberately concealed and lost so people wouldn't make it this far. The myth of the weapon was built up to create fear."

Sam asked, looking up at him, "What is this then?"

"I think it might be a lock. We've been trying to work out the right sequence of letters for a few hours now... but I think I might have worked it out." He shot a glare in Cam's direction. "If Mitchell will let me..."

Cam remarked, glaring back, "Go ahead and fall... we've got plenty of people now."

Jack looked at his successor-once-removed incredulously. "That's your plan?"

"With all respect, if it keeps our boy from doing something stupid without insurance..."

Daniel explained a theory to Sam as Jack argued with Cam, "You see... the founder of this race... this whole world possibly, the one who brought everyone here, was Thetis. I don't know if she's a Goa'uld or an Ancient... but she's a Greek goddess, who was the mother of Achilles. I'll explain everything later... but Linear B script is what was used thousands of years ago before the modern Greek script." He let his wife go and walked around the circle. He glanced at Riape and back at Sam again. "The Riapeans call the Stargate the 'Ring of Thetis'... and we haven't tried 'Thetis' yet. However, there is no 'th' sound in Linear B. But I have an idea..." He looked at the circle, at the different letters. "The Greek 'Thetis' is from the archaic Greek 'tithemi', meaning 'to set up' or 'to establish'." His speech sped up as everything fell into place. "Now Thetis is believed to be the mother of the Riapeans... so... if I step on these stones in the order of the corresponding Linear B letters, rather than the letters that Riape recognises and substitute the 'th' in 'tithemi' for a 'te'..." He leapt onto a stone, which became illuminated in golden light.

Sam asked, curious as she crouched down to look at the stones, "How is it doing that?"

"I have no idea." He stepped onto the next stone, which also lit up.

Jack cocked his head and asked, "You stepping on the right stones?"

"I won't know 'til I get to the middle... it works similar to a DHD in that respect."

When Daniel had reached the third character, he stopped, hoping that he was on the right track. Closing his eyes for a moment, he leapt over to the central circle. When nothing happened, he grimaced, looking disappointed. He was about to step off when there was a rumbling, the whole circle lighting up in a blinding golden light as SG-1 and the Riapeans stumbled. Teal'c ran onto the circle and grabbed the Archaeologist, pulling him to safety as the circle suddenly sank, slowly revealing a spiral staircase leading further underground.

Jack yelled in the direction from where he and Sam had come, "Hey, Reynolds! We found something. Get your men together and come join us!"

Reynolds replied after a long pause, "Uh... General, we got a code-3."

Cam asked, looking confused, "What the hell is a 'code-3'?"

Jack sighed and replied, looking grim, "It means he's in a situation where he can't shout freely... or he's drunk."

Daniel asked, worried as he grabbed Sam's hand, "What do we do? If Alaric's made it down here, we've got to help them."

"Aladdin knows that there's more people here. He doesn't know how many... so he's not gonna do anything to SG-3." Jack pointed to the staircase. "We've got to get to whatever this is first. If it is a weapon, we've got Carter with us to make sure they can't use it." He looked around at the gathered people. "Let's roll, kids."


	14. Chapter 14

Aboard the Odyssey, Binder was seated next to Marks as he continued to help the latter. As they both worked, the occasional bridge personnel silently entering the bridge to carry out their duties before leaving again, the Captain frequently glanced at Marks. Eventually, Marks, frowning as he began to sense something odd, asked, forcing his eyes open as he looked at Binder warily,

"Captain, what is it?"

Binder glanced at his console and then said emphatically, "Sir, I am so sorry."

Marks asked, confused as he glanced back at his screen, "What for? You haven't done anything wrong. It all looks..."

Binder quickly punched the Major, knocking him out as he remarked quietly, grimacing at the pain in his hand... but mostly at his handiwork, "I have now, Sir. Sorry... but if you're not gonna take care of yourself..."

Just then, a female Captain entered the scene, stopping in her tracks on seeing Marks apparently unconscious as Binder held his own fist. Womack exclaimed, "What the hell did you just do, Binder?! Are you insane?!" She tapped her radio, cautiously eyeing him as she summoned more ship personnel.

Binder sighed, not wanting a fight and now wishing he had been quicker in sorting things out. "I'm taking command of the ship." As men emerged, pointing guns at the Captain, he raised his hands. "Could you men escort the Major to Sick Bay please?" He grimaced a little, knowing just what a series of P-90 bullets would do to him if he made so much as the slightest move that could be construed as threatening.

One of the men shouted, "You will come with us, Sir!"

"You have to listen to me. Take the Major to Sick Bay. I have to finish what he started... I'm bringing everyone back." When no-one moved, he continued, "Look, I'm telling you the truth. Get Womack to check what's on our screens here. I won't bite."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

In the Riapean chamber, Alaric and his troops had SG-3 surrounded and disarmed. After Reynolds had shouted into the distance, one of Alaric's men knocked the Colonel to the ground. Alaric demanded, standing over Reynolds as he struggled to his feet, "What has General O'Neill found? Tell me now." When Reynolds hesitated, he and his men looking defiant, Alaric continued, "Every moment you delay, you bring forth your demise by that moment. Tell me."

Reynolds and his men still remain tight-lipped, so, as the Colonel's team watched in muted horror, Alaric sharply swung his staff at Reynolds, winding him. His men fought against their captor's holds, but were held back by the impending threat of being killed. Alaric walked around the fallen Colonel, roughly prodding him with his staff as Reynolds gasped for breath.

"Tell me."

Reynolds struggled to kneel as he said through gritted teeth, "Screw you."

"If you think that by withholding information, I will keep you alive, you are sorely mistaken."

Alaric raised his staff, about to deal a lethal, or at least a crippling blow to Reynolds when suddenly SG-3 were engulfed in white light. Alaric's men backed away in fear at the sight of the team disappearing before their very eyes. Alaric shouted, getting his men to focus as he stamped his staff on the ground,

"What in Donar's name is this trickery?!" He indicated half of the group of soldiers. "Find them. Now. The rest will come with me to find that brazen bitch and her foreign allies... and..." He raised his voice as well as his gaze as his men yelled their battle cry. "... we will wage glorious warfare across this sinful land. Our children will sing about us until the moons cease to rise."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Their way illuminated by the flaming torches of the Riapean guards, SG-1 and Riape carefully descended the spiralling staircase, going further and further into the unknown. As Jack enthralled Riape with tales of Minnesota, Daniel sighed as he gazed around at their dimly lit surroundings, wishing that he had an electronic torch on him. His urge was fed by catching very frustrating glimpses of frescos and glyphs when firelight happened to bounce off it.

As Cam gently held Vala's elbow to prevent her from falling over the edge of the staircase, and while Teal'c slipped on his customary emotionless mask, Daniel sighed softly as he glanced at his wife. As Sam looked up where they had come from, the Archaeologist muttered, raising his eyebrows slowly as he held her hand,

"So... that's you taking it easy, huh? Certainly beats the time you were pregnant with Jake and performed surgery on Adria."

Sam fought a rising urge to roll her eyes and she retorted quietly, trying to keep their altercation as discreet as possible, "Daniel... another time, maybe? Preferably when we're not walking into the unknown... which admittedly is kinda rare." She smiled slightly though, grateful for his concern, even if it appeared to be overbearing at times.

She managed to keep a straight face when Cam turned to them briefly with a knowing smirk. She then kissed Daniel on the cheek, whispering, "I'm glad you're safe."

His stony expression melted and he replied, gazing at her tenderly, "I'm glad you're safe too."

She patted his arm. "We'll talk later, okay?"

"Looks like we'll have to." He glanced at her worriedly. "Are you sure you're okay though? You look tired."

She replied a little too quickly, looking away from him, "I'm fine."

He gazed at her worriedly as the party finally reached the bottom of the stairs, knowing that there was more to what had happened to both her and Jack at the hands of the Tuweiians than 'just a little imprisoning', as Jack had earlier put it. As the party squinted into parts of the darkness that the torchlight couldn't quite reach from where they were standing, Daniel made sure to keep his wife's hand in his, not wanting to risk losing her again.

Jack remarked grouchily, "What, no moonshine down here?" The General huffed as he removed his hat, wiping his brow with the back of his hand as everyone else began to notice the dry heat that surrounded them, considerably less vocally. "Seriously, I would even go for Nick Parker's dusty old wine collection right now."

Sam, now unable to resist the urge to do so, unbuttoned her BDU jacket, exhaling slowly in an attempt to cool herself. Daniel, worried, helped her out of her tactical vest and, without a word, took her jacket off as the others sweltered. Cam, fanning himself with his hat, said, "You'd think there'd be lights somewhere."

Daniel said as he gave Sam the last of the water left in his water bottle, "Uh, well... a construction this size, the previous inhabitants would have required..."

Jack cut him off, looking wary. "When you say 'previous'... you do mean as in folk who aren't around _right now,_ don't you?"

Just then, shouts could be heard from the direction of higher up on the staircase, and Riape, blanching in fear, whispered, "We must move from here. Alaric and his men will show us no mercy."

As Alara and the rest of the soldiers set up defensive positions around the staircase, waiting for the enemy, Jack and Teal'c hurried the rest of the party onwards, further into the deepest recesses of the chamber that they were in. Riape enthused as she walked at Daniel's side, "Adventures of this sort are certainly not everyday occurrences here... especially for the Sovereign of a nation. Your life must indeed be exciting beyond measure, Daniel Jackson... the racing of the heart, the tingling of the back, the taste for the unknown that comes with each journey you take..."

Vala regarded the Queen sceptically before whispering something to Cam who smirked once again. Daniel appeared lost for words, so Sam replied in his stead, keeping a straight face, having already surmised Riape's attraction to Daniel, "Oh, it's pretty great... but not without its dangers." She affectionately patted Daniel's shoulder. "And Daniel seems to be attracted to trouble more often than the rest of us half the time."

Jack remarked wearily from the front as Riape wistfully regarded Sam, "You can say that again, Carter. Made me grey before my time." He ran his fingers through his cropped, now almost white hair. "No-one will believe that I'm actually forty..."

Daniel retorted, looking more than a little affronted, "We don't either."

"Smooth..."

Jack trailed off when Daniel said, frowning as he noticed something briefly catch the light above their heads, "Hang on..." As the others looked at him in a mixture of concern and curiosity, Daniel took a flaming torch from one of Riape's personal guard, and he retraced his steps briefly. Holding the torch aloft, the light illuminated what appeared to be a silver sphere. "It looks like a..."

The others moved closer, caution in their step as Jack said, "Well... if that doesn't get Showtime..."

Riape said in amazement, gazing up at it, "It is beautiful..." She looked at Daniel, noting that he and SG-1 weren't anywhere near as giddy as she was. "What is it?"

Sam replied as she took the torch from Daniel, searching any signs of a power source or controls, "It looks like a visual communications device used by an enemy of ours. It can be used between ships in Space."

Jack asked, "Any way to make sure it doesn't broadcast us to the nearest small fry?"

"I'm looking, Sir. I can't seem to find anything." Sam and the others started in surprise when the ball suddenly expanded. "Uh... somehow I don't think this is a communication ball though."

Cam snapped into action, shouting as it continued to expand, "Okay, fall back, people!" He shoved Daniel and Vala out of the way as Jack and Teal'c grabbed Sam, while the Riapean guards arranged themselves in defensive positions around Riape. Daniel glanced at a scanning device that he held and then passed it to Sam, and Cam asked, "Jacksons – anything?"

Sam replied with a stunned expression as the ball finally stopped expanding, said item now so large that it skimmed the floor of the chamber, "I'm picking up methane and hydrogen... ammonia..." Her eyes widened in shock. "... nitrogen, nucleic acids, amino acids..." She stared at the looming ball in amazement and continued in a hushed voice. "You could start life with this..." She looked at Daniel. "This could regenerate Tuwria's ecosystem."

Riape, picking up on Sam's and then Daniel's excitement, asked, "Is this the source of the legends surrounding Thetis' essence? The peace that will be wrought..."

Sam looked at Daniel again, the Archaeologist replying, "I think so. It isn't a weapon... it's something that could be used so you don't need agricultural technology from us. This could very well help you and your..." He stopped on noticing that one of the Queen's rings had begun to flash. He asked quietly as he slowly approached her, the others eventually staring too when they noticed the flashing, "Does that usually do that?"

Riape stared down in surprise, saying, "I have never seen this do that. It is the ring that weds me to this nation, and has been worn by each Riape since the beginning."

Daniel stared at the ring, its flashing growing in intensity, and he glanced at Riape as he slowly held her hand. "May I?" She nodded in acquiescence and he removed the golden band from her finger, holding it in his palm. As the others looked on, he moved closer to the sphere, noting that the flashing grew so bright that he had to shield his eyes. Turning away, he said as he returned the ring to her, "Your people have long forgotten about this place, but you have been carrying a reminder with you without knowing. It appears to be a homing beacon of some kind."

Jack cleared his throat and asked, gesturing to the sphere, "I think the sixty four thousand dollar question here is... is this thing safe?"

Cam muttered as Alaric and his men suddenly emerged from the darkness surrounding them, "I'm betting it's safer than this guy."

"Aladdin! Nice of you to join this little shindig."

Alaric and his men gaped up at the sphere before the Tuweiian Chieftain turned to Daniel, and demanded, "What is this?"

Daniel replied, looking sad, "This is what you've been fighting over. This is your so-called 'weapon'. We think it'll help your planet overcome the spate of natural disasters you've been having. You've been fighting over the source of life itself."

"You dare dishonour Donar with your lies!"

Riape replied calmly as she approached him, "No, Alaric... he is not lying. These honourable people have helped us to locate this and end this war once and for all so that our children will not live as we have had to live."

"You brazen harlot, do not talk so forthrightly to me!"

When both sets of soldiers quickly mobilised themselves, ready for an impending skirmish to defend their respective Sovereigns, Sam closed her eyes when Daniel jumped in between them. "Stop! This has got to stop! How long are you going to keep doing this? Hm? Until there's no-one left? What then?"

Alaric turned his weapon on Daniel as his friends yelled, Cam grabbing Sam to prevent her from running into the fray as the Riapeans aimed their weapons at Alaric too. Daniel said, looking sad once again, "Go ahead and kill me. You kill and kill, and then what? Killing doesn't bring peace... it infects you, and you can't stop." The Archaeologist defiantly held Alaric's gaze for a long moment, noticing that it wavered briefly. Slowly, he held the Chieftain's staff, gently removing it from his hands. "This stops now. There is no winner here."

As Alaric, in a daze, approached the sphere, the others noticed that one of the rings that he wore now flashed as much as Riape's was doing. Noticing this, Alaric asked, looking at Daniel, "What is the meaning of this?"

Riape replied softly, holding up her hand, "Mine has been acting the same also. Perhaps the gods who brought us here did not wish for us to forget."

When the two Sovereigns moved much closer to the sphere, the flashing of their rings finally stabilised. Everyone looked around in surprise when unseen lights steadily illuminated the now obviously huge chamber, now negating the need for the flame torches that the Riapeans and the Tuweiians carried. The gathered people leapt back in surprise, and also out of caution, when the sphere suddenly changed from silver to a translucent albeit pulsating white.

Jack remarked as he pulled Riape to safety as Daniel reached for Sam's hand, "If this turns into the Prisoner, heads are gonna roll."

Suddenly, the sphere silently exploded in a burst of multicoloured light, filling the chamber as everyone was rooted to the spot in shock. What appeared to be a swirling cloud of gases spread before gathering itself and shooting through the roof of the chamber, whooshing as it did so past everyone. When all fell silent once again, Jack called, making sure that everyone was okay,

"Mitchell?"

"I'm good, Sir..."

"T?"

"I am fine."

"Daniel!"

"I'm fine too, Jack."

"Carter!"

"Yes, Sir!"

"Vala!"

"Stunned but otherwise as vivacious as ever."

Jack smirked briefly at the alien before SG-1 and his attentions were drawn to where Riape and Alaric were standing, their rings now no longer flashing. Riape looked up the ceiling and then said to Alaric,

"There is no war. There was no weapon."

Alaric regarded her with an expression filled with years of pain. "We have each lost so many lives because of this senseless violence. I am truly sorry, Riape... and when we reach the surface, I will order a cessation of all hostilities, and an unblocking of your broadcasting capabilities." He threw his staff down. "The war will end now."

"And quite right too. I too am sorry. You may leave your spies in our territory as ambassadors of your realm... and I wish to do the same with my spies... if you will permit it."

Alaric took her hand. "Of course, sister." He smiled gratefully on sighting Commander Alara. "And many thanks for your kind treatment to my blood sister."

Cam frowned. "Don't you mean sister-in-law? You said the Riapeans had taken your brother's wife."

"Colonel Mitchell... I considered her husband to be my brother as we shared the same birth village. The Riapeans didn't take her – my headstrong sister ran away to Riapea." Alaric gazed at his sister with a smile. "I apologise, sister, for refusing to admit that your husband was nothing short of a barbarian. If you wish to visit..."

Alara replied, clasping his forearm, "Thank you for understanding, brother." She hugged him. "I wish to see mother again."

At last Alaric approached Sam, who tried not to back away from him in fear. The Chieftain reached for her hand and said, looking utterly remorseful, "I am truly sorry for everything that we did to you and General O'Neill. I was a fool and..."

Daniel stared at the Chieftain, knowing now that something had been done to his wife as well as his best friend. The Archaeologist punched Alaric, sending him sprawling on the ground as the Tuweiians aimed their weapons at Daniel, who stood over Alaric and angrily said as Sam and Vala forcefully held him back, "If you ever touch Sam or my friends again, I won't be held responsible for my actions."

Alaric was helped to his feet and, shamefaced, said, "You are truly a man of honour. If my bride had been dishonoured, no power on this world would stop me from exacting my vengeance."

After Alaric had apologised to Jack, the General went over to Daniel and affectionately ruffled his hair. "See? I taught you how to handle yourself... and for years you've been giving me nothing but sass. I thought I was gonna have to steam in and drop him on his ass."

As soon as Jack had stepped back, Sam punched the Archaeologist in the arm. As he stared at her, confused, she hugged him tight and said, "If you ever offer yourself up to be killed like that again, I'll do it myself."

"Uh... I'm glad you're alive too..."


	15. Chapter 15

Binder, not comfortable with sitting in the command chair, stood to one side of it as he, SG-3 and the rest of the bridge crew stared at the sight before them in shock. A large greenish cloud had appeared, growing steadily until it obscured most of the previously visible landmass. Suddenly the cloud expanded much faster, engulfing the entire planet surface as the crew of the Odyssey stared in horrified fascination. And then, with the same suddenness of its appearance, it was gone.

Womack sat at Marks' console, tapping for a moment before staring at the screen in shock. Reynolds asked, worried for SG-1 and Jack's collective welfare, "What the hell was that?"

"I... I don't know, Sir... but the planet's atmosphere is now far richer in oxygen and nitrogen... and there is way more vegetation than there was on previous scans of the surface. It's..." She looked up at Reynolds, shaking her head. "It's impossible. This rate of atmospheric change... development, whatever you want to call it, takes millions of years... not to take into account the sudden and rapid vegetation spread and growth."

"That's... unlikely... but in this job, we've all seen far weirder." Reynolds' attempt at rationality, however, belied his stunned demeanour. He managed to tear his eyes from the now obviously greener planet surface to ask, "What about SG-1? Anything?"

Binder went to help Womack as the female Captain replied, looking worried as she looked back at Reynolds, "No Sir. Not a peep. While the vegetation doesn't appear to contain any Naquadah now... the local geology, especially in the Riapean territory... contains high concentrations of the mineral. There's nothing that we can do right now... without reinforcements from Earth. Sir, permission to contact the SGC using the Tuwrian 'gate."

Reynolds sighed and looked at his men, for once unsure of what to do. Raising the SGC would signify failure on his part, as the highest ranking officer available after General O'Neill, and Colonels Jackson and Mitchell. And this was SG-1 after all. They had come way too far to end the journey on some backwater planet with pointless squabbles. He finally shook his head and said, only a fraction of the sadness that he felt showing on his face,

"No. We're going back down there and pulling our people out... using lethal force if we have to. As far as we know, the Tuweiians have taken SG-1 and the Riapeans hostage."

Binder shook his head and got to his feet. "With all respect, Sir, as soon as you go down there, there's no guarantee that we can beam you back up again. As you said, SG-1 went further into the chamber that you and your men were in. You would be trapped... and I don't know how long our counter-jamming signal is going to work."

"In which case you and your men contact the SGC to..."

One of the Marines of SG-3, Major Peterson, suddenly said, "Sir."

Reynolds looked at him, frustrated as he was well aware that each minute that they were delayed, meant one more minute of captivity or possibly worse for SG-1. "What, Major?"

"The Odyssey's got Asgard weapons... we could blast the rock."

Reynolds frowned in thought as the others looked gradually impressed. The Colonel then said with a shake of his head, "It's too risky... falling rock aside, if only a gram of that stuff manages to ignite, it'll take out half the landmass at the very least."

"You don't even have to do it full on. Short bursts. Just enough 'til we can pick up their signals and pull them out."

Reynolds nodded, quietly impressed with the idea despite the risks involved. He then said to Womack as he made to leave the bridge, "Captain, do what Major Peterson says. Three second plasma bursts just 'til you can beam SG-1 out."

Womack got to work but appeared worried as Reynolds' men followed the Colonel out. "Aye, Sir... but what are you doing?"

"I'm getting F-302's and my team on standby. Binder, stay with Captain Womack. You have command in the event that I and my team return to the planet."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

SG-1, and the Riapean and Tuweiians parties, walked back the way that they had come after fruitless attempts on the team's part to contact the Odyssey. As Sam regarded her hand-held scanner in utter astonishment, Jack stared at rapidly sprouting vegetation that appeared to flourish even in the minimal light of the cavern. The others stared too as the General began to suspect that decades of copious beer drinking had finally caught up with him.

Riape smiled a little as she stepped in the main chamber above the sub-chamber, Alaric and everyone else ascending the remaining steps as they followed. She looked around herself in amazement at the previously gloomy hall, the Queen, and then the others, agape on seeing the vaulted roof light up, row by row. Jack frowned a little as he too stared up at the ceiling.

"... Carter?"

Sam replied, mesmerised by the sight of so many chandeliers lighting up, "I don't know, Sir. They appear to be artificial lights. They could have been triggered by the... uh, implosion." Something finally managed to get her to stop staring upwards. She frowned as a hand went to her abdomen, and she said softly, unsure of what had happened, "Oh."

Daniel was by her side in an instant as SG-1's and then everyone else's gazes suddenly moved to Sam. "Sam?"

Sam, a worried frown on her face, looked at him. "I don't know. I just felt someth..." Her eyes widened in shock as she looked down at her hand, only to see it moving outwards as her abdomen swelled. "Daniel."

Daniel and the others stared in shock, and Riape asked, concerned, "What has transpired?"

Cam and Daniel quickly supported Sam as she collapsed, bringing her to her feet slowly as Cam said, worried, "Easy."

Sam nodded, looking strong enough to stand by herself... until she collapsed again. Teal'c picked her up in his arms as Jack demanded, scratching his head in puzzlement, "Okay, someone care to tell me what the hell is going on here?"

Daniel shook his head as he tried to retain his composure. Cam glanced at him uneasily and Vala asked, trying to figure things out, "Could it be something to do with the sphere down there? I mean, Daniel did say that the Riapeans and the Tuweiians have been fighting over the source of life itself... what if 'life' isn't just plant life?"

Daniel shook his head once again. "This type of development takes millions of years. The gases that we detected shouldn't have affected us at such a short exposure level... not least like that..."

He stared, scared and wide-eyed at Sam's now considerably swollen abdomen. Teal'c said as Jack looked as though he was itching to snap into action but unsure of how to, "We must advance to the surface. If Alaric's forces unblock Riapea's broadcasting capabilities, we will be capable of contacting the Odyssey."

Jack, hating himself for feeling helpless, said with a wave of his hand, "Okay, lead the way, buddy."

Riape approached Daniel. "Daniel Jackson. Allow my guards to carry Colonel Jackson. We will make her comfortable when we reach the surface."

Daniel glanced at her and then back at Teal'c and the unconscious form of his wife as the group walked quickly. "She'll be fine."

"What of the child she carries? I have never seen..."

Noticing that Daniel was trying very hard to keep a lid on his emotions as he walked behind Teal'c, Vala steered Riape away from the Archaeologist and said cheerfully, "Come on, tell me what it's like being Queen by yourself. Do you get to play with your treasure?" Vala discreetly winked at Daniel, who nodded slightly in gratitude at her.

As Cam shared his favourite omelette recipe with Jack and Alaric, the ground and everything around them began to shake. Jack yelled over loud rumbling sounds, Teal'c carefully shielding a stirring Sam from the falling debris, "Into the doorway! Move! Move!" Pulling everyone that he could reach into the doorway leading back into the tunnels that they had earlier trudged through, Jack yelled again as Daniel refused to leave Teal'c's side, "Daniel! Get your ass here right now!"

Grimacing as he stared at the ceiling for a moment, Jack shielded his head with his jacket and an arm as he ran to his remaining friends, giving Daniel a good shove.

Finally, with everyone more or less in the doorway, Sam said, squinting upwards as Teal'c helped her to her feet, "Someone's blasting us out... but..."

Cam remarked, "Well, they must want us alive... that's a first."

Sam shook her head with a little smile. "It's the Odyssey. Can you smell molten rock? It's plasma weapons." She looked up again and then looked troubled. "They couldn't contact us and SG-3 must have told them about Alaric."

Everyone turned to glare at Alaric and his men, who all began to look a little sheepish. Sam then continued as lots of lush vegetation from the surface began to fall with the rocks, "We must be quite far down. We heard some rumbling before but..."

She trailed off as everyone suddenly looked at Cam as his radio sprang to life, Reynolds calling, "SG-1, this is the Odyssey. Are you getting us down there?"

Jack grabbed the Colonel's radio and replied as Daniel put an arm around a weak looking Sam, "Yeah... we sure are." Jack glanced around at his friends and at their new allies. "All members of SG-1 and the old guard present and accounted for." He looked grave as his gaze fell on Sam. "Have a medical team on standby... beam Carter up... and Daniel too if I'm ever gonna leave this planet upright."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sam lie in a bed aboard the Odyssey in the ship's Infirmary. The Colonel, now unconscious once again, had been hooked up to an IV drip and several items of machinery which monitored her condition and vital signs. As Daniel sat by her side, watching over her, he heard someone approach them. Looking up, he saw Doctor Brightman, a clipboard tucked in the crook of her arm. Nodding in greeting, he asked as he looked back at Sam,

"Is she going to be alright?"

Brightman stood next to the Archaeologist's seat and replied, briefly regarding her notes, "Colonel Jackson's baby is now at the thirty week marker in terms of development, whereas he..." She smiled briefly. "... or she is only thirteen weeks in real time. Basically, he or she's gone from the size of about a goose egg to a little bigger than a cabbage in the space of, if what you've said is accurate, seconds... minutes even." She placed a hand on Daniel's shoulder. "Your child is otherwise fine, Doctor."

Daniel, scared, asked, "What about Sam?"

Brightman's hand dropped to her side as she replied, "The Colonel's going to be okay... we're rehydrating her and monitoring her condition closely. Usually the body adjusts over the course of a normal pregnancy to accommodate the growth and development of the growing foetus. However, in this case, her body hasn't had time to adjust. She's going to have more strain in her back than usual until her body can compensate... although... at her age and with her insistence on not taking it easy... her cervix is not going to be able to take much more."

Even more scared, the Archaeologist asked as he looked up at the doctor, "What are you saying? What's going to happen to Sam?"

"I'm saying that because of all these factors, including the accelerated growth, you won't even have two months before she goes into labour."

Running his fingers through his hair as he felt his stress levels build up again, his eyes moved back to Sam. "Premature labour?"

"I'm afraid so, Doctor... but with all the technology at our disposal, the risk to mother and baby will be lower than average."

"The risk will still be there."

"Unfortunately, yes... but there is nothing to worry about."

Daniel nodded, not entirely believing the doctor as his gaze moved back to the Colonel, and Brightman quietly left. He watched as Sam slowly began to wake up, and he ran his fingers through her hair. At that moment, in a bed on the other side of the bay, Marks, who was now sitting up and planning on slipping out of the Infirmary unseen, asked,

"Doctor Jackson?"

Daniel looked up to see the Major, asking, "Marks? How are you feeling? I heard about what happened." He smiled briefly. "Thank you. If it hadn't been for you, we'd still be stuck down there."

Marks shrugged. "I just did my job, Sir... or at least was doing it until I..." He paused briefly. "... ended up here."

"How are you feeling?"

"Much better, Sir." The Major looked over at Sam, who was now awake. "How's the Colonel?"

Daniel looked at Sam to see her watching him and he gave her hand a squeeze. He replied quietly, "Good." Still holding her hand, he asked Marks, "Are you going back to the bridge?"

"Trying to." Marks glanced around the Infirmary, seeing that Brightman and the on-duty medics and nurses were preoccupied. He was about to sneak out when Sam sat up and ordered, scaring even Daniel,

"Major, get back in that bed right now! That's an order. You were relieved of duty because you hadn't slept, rested or eaten in half a week. It would be negligent of the doctor or Reynolds or me for that matter to let you go back on duty right now."

Marks slinked back into his bed with no argument as a stern looking Brightman approached him. Daniel turned back to Sam and remarked, looking sceptical, "Still taking it easy, I see..."

He helped her to lie back down as she began to look annoyed. She asked, looking concerned as she tentatively smoothed her bump, "How's Junior?"

He replied, trying to look brave, "He or she's actually developed to a thirty week old. Doctor Brightman thinks it might have been to do with the terraforming sphere... but those gases shouldn't have affected us like that. We weren't exposed for that long." He kissed the hand that he held. "But other than that... Junior is doing fine. The doctor's concerned though that because of the strain on your body, you could end up going into labour in a matter of weeks."

She immediately looked scared. "Weeks? Okay, granted the survival rate is around ninety-four percent, but what about cognitive development? Junior hasn't had a chance to develop... he or she just went from thirteen to thirty."

"Doctor said you're okay and that Junior's okay too. She would have spotted anything untoward."

Sam nodded, taking a deep breath to calm herself. She asked, noting the distinct absence of their friends, "Where's everyone else?"

"Still on the planet surface, tidying up."

She smiled a little as she watched him, knowing that he wouldn't move from her side on purpose. She kissed him on the cheek and said softly, "Go on... I'm sure Riape wants the chance to say 'bye' to you."

He reddened, having not been quite so oblivious to the Queen's advances. He shook his head and replied, "No... they can manage things."

"Oh, Daniel... I'll be fine. It's not like anyone's going to let me do anything here anyway." She smirked as she glanced over at Marks. "I might just hatch an escape plan with the Major when you're gone though..."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Daniel was beamed down to the courtyard of Riape's palace, where he was suddenly surrounded by her soldiers. Instead of aiming weapons at him, however, they greeted him warmly, offering to escort him into the palace. However, he became distracted by the sight of so much greenery around him. The rainforest that lie between Riapea and Tuweiia looked much healthier and far more verdant than he remembered... although he only remembered seeing it from the Tuweiian side as he had been unconscious when he had first arrived in Riapea.

Vines were now entwined around the columns supporting the roof of the palace, bunches of rather plump grapes of various hues hanging down, straining against the force of gravity. Some of Riape's retinue were busy hacking back the overgrown vegetation in the palace grounds, and as he walked through the soldiers, he noticed that the fruit trees had become much larger and far more plentiful than before.

And then he noticed that the temperature wasn't quite as stifling as it had been.

He smiled a little on catching whiffs of various floral and fruity scents on the breeze, and he noticed more of Riape's retinue running past from the fields, each pushing carts piled high with healthy looking crops... wheat, corn, rice, apples, oranges, grapefruits... and things he didn't recognise but which he presumed to be edible. As he passed an abundance of different varieties of flowers, some on the ground; others climbing up the palace walls, he heard a voice calling him.

"Daniel Jackson, do you intend to remain outside for eternity?"

He turned to see a wistful Riape standing in a doorway, the Queen trying to be cheerful. He smiled slightly and replied, "It's amazing."

"I know... and this wouldn't have happened without you." She smiled at him affectionately as he approached. "How is Colonel Jackson?"

"Sam's okay. The baby's developed much faster than it should have though... but our doctor said that it's otherwise fine."

"That is good to hear. I have to admit that I have never seen such growth in someone with child before."

Riape led Daniel into the palace as he replied, looking thoughtful, "Me neither." He grimaced a little as he thought of Adria, his gaze softening as he thought then of Shifu. "Rapidly developing children, I've seen... but this is something else. On the bright side, at least my son will have a brother or a sister soon."

He changed the subject on noticing that Riape looked a little disappointed. "So... where is everyone?"

She replied, smiling a little once more, "They are awaiting your arrival. General O'Neill did not want to contact you as he was aware that Colonel Jackson would insist on you returning here. My Emissaries and Alaric's Emissaries have created a peace treaty, but I wish for you to check it... and for Earth to ratify it as a third party."

"That's good... it's exciting, isn't it? After so long of fighting, you finally get the peace that both of you have been wanting so much... and you don't need us to help you any more."

As servants opened gilded doors with a loud swish, she replied as they entered a large ornate chamber with highly polished floors and furnishings, "But we would very much like you to visit. You're right, however... it is very exciting."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

The full complement of SG-1, and Jack, were beamed onto the bridge of the Odyssey. Reynolds welcomed them back and, as Daniel rushed off to the Infirmary to see Sam, Jack looked relieved at being able to know what to do once again. He began by reeling off orders as Teal'c smiled slightly, understanding the General's turmoil on the planet surface.

"Right... Mitchell, Teal'c, Vala... get yourselves down to the Infirmary." The General frowned a little on noticing that Marks was absent but he decided to let that go for the moment. "Reynolds, wipe that grin off your face... and Womack, get us back to Earth, pronto."

As the rest of SG-1 left, Jack remarked as he looked at the viewscreen, seeing the planet appear to move to one side as the ship turned away from it, "Damn, I miss this job." Feeling a little anxious for Sam's welfare, he said, leaving the bridge, "She's all yours, Reynolds."

Reynolds couldn't help but smile again, grimacing a little as he sat in the command chair. "Aye, Sir." He looked at Womack. "You heard the General. Let's go home."


	16. Chapter 16

With everyone safely back at home, Daniel and the rest of SG-1 sat around Sam's bed in the dimly lit Infirmary while the Astrophysicist slept. Daniel quietly watched over his slumbering wife, his gaze wandering every so often to where their unborn child was. As he did so, Cam remarked to Daniel as Vala began to braid some of Sam's hair, "You know, this is like that first night you were here after coming from Atlantis... except we had McKay... and Vixen here wasn't playing hair stylist on you."

Vala looked up and winked at Cam as she continued what she was doing. Teal'c remarked, smirking ever so slightly, "And, as I recall, DanielJackson was not gestating."

Cam looked at him, intending to glare but then he smiled, glancing down before looking at Daniel again. "Yeah, well, that's a given. I gotta say though, all those mission reports... not one male pregnancy."

Vala and Teal'c shot Cam odd looks as Daniel looked up at the Colonel. "The Jaffa used to carry symbiotes... well, some of them still do, and some of the Sodan. It works more less the same way, in principle at least, as a pregnancy in that each Jaffa or Sodan and their symbiote are interdependent."

Cam glared at the Archaeologist. "I did mean like Junior, Doctor Polylingual Multi-geek."

"Polylingual multi-geek? Why didn't I think of that?"

The members of SG-1 who weren't asleep looked up to see Jack at the end of the bed, a quiet but watchful Jake on his shoulder. As the others grinned, Daniel was about to get up when Jack snapped, "Get your butt back down. I'm not too old to carry this little tyke yet."

As Jack passed Jake to Daniel, the toddler now beaming at his father, Daniel said as he looked up at the General accusingly, "He was supposed to be sleeping."

"So are you... but you Jacksons are a strange bunch." Jack glanced at Sam as Daniel gave Jake a hug. "Doc said when you can take Carter home yet?"

Stopping Jake from climbing onto the bed, over his mother, Daniel replied, "Morning. Her body's still struggling to adjust with the sudden development so Carolyn is forcing Sam to take it easy."

Cam snorted suddenly, remarking as everyone looked at him, "Like _that_ is gonna happen in this lifetime. Sam was stubborn enough before she became a Jackson."

Jack smirked a little, admiring the Colonel's remark. Before anyone could do it first, he pulled up a chair for himself, remarking wearily as he sat down, "Well, this brings back the memories... The number of times I've been at Danny's bedside, and Carter's... and T's..."

Teal'c retorted, his face blank, "And we at yours."

"Yeah, I was getting to that." Jack looked around at the team. "Doctor Frasier wouldn't let us all do it at the same time though and we were a four man team. Carolyn's got a lot to learn about wielding medical authority on you guys."

Cam replied with a tight smile, "She does it plenty, Sir."

"I bet she does, that scary-eyed daughter of a General." Jack smiled a little as he watched Daniel and Jake quietly interact. "Sure is great to be home again though. This place beats Aladdin's cave any day."

Daniel frowned a little. "You have been told that his name wasn't 'Aladdin', right?"

"Don't take away my fun, Space Monkey. It's either this or developing Stockholm Syndrome... and I'd rather not." Jack sighed a little, his face grim. "Carter's not gonna tell you what happened... and I don't want to, but you have to know before you come across it in her report."

Daniel suddenly looked fearful and then suspicious. "What happened?"

Jack glanced at the others, who leaned forward a little in concern. Vala even stopped braiding Sam's hair to listen. "You figured it out a little on the planet anyway. Carter was... mistreated by the Tuweiians."

Daniel felt dread rising his throat. He didn't want to know but he had to. "What do you mean by 'mistreated'?"

Jack shook his head grimly. "Nothing like that, Daniel. She got slapped about a bit by Alaric and then locked up for however long we were there before we got out." He suddenly looked at the Archaeologist accusingly. "What I want to know, however, is why you haven't read her report already. You always do it when she's been hurt."

Daniel sighed softly as he gazed down at his drowsy son. He said quietly, eventually looking at Jack, "I guess a part of me didn't want to know what they did to her, as callous as that sounds. I lost control on the planet when I suspected that Sam had been treated badly. I don't want to know what would happen if I read it in all its gory details... I have to keep it together for her."

The Archaeologist tried hard to keep control of his emotions in front of his friends, and his son. Somehow sensing this, Jack quietly signalled for the others to go. When they did, Jack looked at a troubled Daniel. "Daniel... it wasn't a bad thing what you did. You defended Carter. But you're clever enough to know that no amount of violence or bloodshed will avenge anything." Daniel nodded slowly as though deep in thought. "You have every right to be angry about what they did to her. Hell, I am... and I'm pretty damn sore that _you_ dotted the guy, and not me."

Daniel looked at Jack, the Archaeologist now looking quite vulnerable. "I don't feel guilty about that... I just don't like the effect that anger has on me. I could have done worse."

"You could've but you didn't." Jack lowered his voice as he moved a little closer to Daniel, his expression grave once again. "Take care of her, okay? Carter's one hell of a strong person, but she's not invincible."

Daniel frowned on noticing something in Jack's eyes, and before he could question it, the General was gone. Mulling over his thoughts, Daniel now worried about how Sam had managed during her captivity. He looked at where Jack had been and then, his eyes moist, he kissed the top of his sleeping son's head and turned back to see Sam watching him.

He said, trying to be upbeat, "Hey. How are you feeling?"

She tried to smile as she replied, "Okay, I guess. How are you doing?"

He replied with a nod as she reached over to stroke Jake's head, "Good... good." He swallowed and continued, "The guys have stepped out for a bit and Jack was here..."

She nodded, looking a little subdued as she held Daniel's hand. "I know. It's been hard staying completely awake for long periods, but I can get by if I just lie here with my eyes closed." With her other hand, she lifted Vala's handiwork and smiled in amusement for a moment. Her gaze returning to her husband, she said to him, all smiles gone, "Daniel... I'm not gonna lie to you. I gave up when we were held captive, and then when Jack got us out." Tears pricked her eyes. "I couldn't do anything, and I didn't now whether you and everyone were still alive or not. Jack was the one who kept me going... otherwise..."

She left the rest unsaid as she turned away from him, upset and not needing to finish what she was saying as Daniel understood. He glanced down at Jake once again and then said, tears in his own eyes as Sam began to sniffle, "If it hadn't been for you, Sam, we'd still be there. Of course, I'm not happy that you risked your life like that, but I couldn't be prouder of you."

Daniel got up to put Jake on an adjacent bed and he returned to his wife's bedside, holding her hand as he sat on the edge of her bed. He continued, stroking her hair, "You're always looking out for me... and I appreciate that beyond words." He watched as her crying lessened. "You're only human, Sam. You can't expect to be able to withstand everything. Those bastards broke you down." He gently kissed her. "I'm here for you, always." He smiled a little as he turned further towards her to stroke her bump. "And we're going to have another little one in our lives soon... sooner than expected, but hey, story of our lives..."

Sam smiled as she looked at him and then struggled to sit up. He helped her, and when she was in a seated position, she hugged him. He kissed her and held her in his arms as she remarked, tired as she closed her eyes, "Oh, I see a lot of revenge mollycoddling in my immediate future."

He smiled slightly as he gazed down at her. "Well... true... all except for the revenge part."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sam woke up suddenly in the Infirmary some time later. Something had caused her to wake up and as she tried to figure it out, it happened again. She gasped in surprise on feeling a contraction and then she closed her eyes. Not wanting to wake Daniel, who she knew hadn't left her side since he had returned from the negotiations, she grabbed the remote control on the side of her bed and pressed the call button for the on-duty Nurse as she groaned, trying to breath quietly.

The Nurse arrived, quickly snapping into action on suspecting that the Colonel was going into labour. Sam cried out as a particularly rocky contraction hit her, waking Daniel up with a start. As a Nurse moved Jake to an isolation room, the initial Nurse began to examine Sam as Daniel got to his feet. Looking confused, he asked as Sam was helped to sit up,

"What's going on?"

The on-duty Nurse replied as she helped Sam out of bed and into a wheelchair. "Braxton-Hicks contractions, Sir. I'm just taking Colonel Jackson to the bathroom. She should be fine... it's just her cervix thinning. She's not going into labour yet."

Daniel frowned, looking stunned as Sam was wheeled away. The Colonel called out with a groan, "Feels like it."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Daniel emerged from an isolation room during Sam's absence, having checked on his son. He stopped in his tracks on seeing Carolyn rushing in, throwing her white coat on. Frowning once again, he asked, "Carolyn?"

Before she could reply, they both could hear a loud groaning. Seconds later, Sam was rushed back into the Infirmary, gasping in pain. As Sam was helped back into her bed by Nurses that seemed to appear from nowhere, Daniel rushed to his wife's side, saying to the Nurse who had examined her previously, "Captain, I thought you said she wasn't going into labour."

Carolyn gave out orders and the Nurses wheeled Sam into an operating theatre, the doctor and everyone else scrubbing up. As Sam was hooked up to monitors, Daniel asked Carolyn as the doctor proceeded to examine the Colonel, "Carolyn. What's going on?"

Carolyn replied as she narrowed her eyes a little, continuing her examination, "Sam's going into pre-term labour... her cervix is totally effaced." She glanced up at him sympathetically as he looked stunned once more. "No need to worry. Just be there for Sam, okay? Go on."

Daniel nodded as he returned to Sam's side, holding his wife's hand. He tenderly kissed her forehead and whispered as she looked up at him, worried, "Honey, just breathe through it. Come on, like with Jake."

Sam groaned and closed her eyes as she did as she was told. She remarked weakly, beads of sweat visible on her brow, "Daniel, that was three years ago. I've lost most of my memory-stroke-sanity with all those sleepless nights since then. It's a miracle I'm still capable of doing my job." Forcing herself to continue breathing as fear welled within her, she said, "It's too early. I knew we were going to see Junior early, but not this early."

Being brave for her, he said softly, his gaze wandering to where Carolyn worked, "Sshh, Junior's going to be okay. Just keep breathing."

She chuckled weakly and then winced as another contraction hit her. "Somehow I don't think breathing's gonna be a problem here. Whether you want Junior learning some curses though is another thing."

Carolyn called, "Sam, do you know how far apart your contractions are?"

Sam gasped, her eyes opening. "Uh... they're coming quicker." She clenched her teeth as she rode out an extra long contraction. "About three and a half seconds apart... five seconds long."

Daniel couldn't help but smile a little, although he wasn't surprised that she was timing her own contractions despite her pain. Sam whispered, closing her eyes as she gasped, "Takes my mind off the pain."

"I know." He tenderly kissed her as he smoothed her hair. He smiled as he gazed down at her. "You're doing great."

"Oh, it gets better..."

Daniel, frowning in worry, looked at Carolyn. "Carolyn?"

Carolyn looked up from her observations, a surgical mask on her face. "No, not yet, Daniel. She's not dilated enough."

Daniel continued to frown as he watched Carolyn quietly confer with a senior Nurse. His attention was drawn back to Sam. She tugged on his arm, saying, her eyes wide with fear, "Daniel, something doesn't feel right. What's happening? Junior hasn't even turned yet... what if..."

He shook his head. "Just a little wait. You're not dilated enough yet." He gave her hand a squeeze. "Come on, honey, focus on breathing properly. In... and out. Come on. Carolyn knows what she's doing."

Sam groaned. "I'll do the breathing and the pushing... you think up some names."

He smiled a little. "Aye, aye, Colonel."

"God, I'm too old for this. Shoot me if I ever suggest doing this again."

He rested his head next to hers as he gazed at her. He kissed her on the cheek, his hand still holding hers. "Oh, I'm willing to bet my savings on you wanting another baby. You've been wanting another one since Jake learnt to walk."

Sam smiled weakly as she kissed him. "And I don't regret it one bit... not after everything that we've both been through." Her smile vanished, pain clouding her eyes. "I wouldn't be here right now if it hadn't been for Jack. He kept me fighting for you."

She gasped, closing her eyes as she faced the ceiling once again. Daniel immediately sat up in concern as she began to cry out, her hips rising from the bed with each intense contraction. Daniel shouted over Sam's cries, "Carolyn!"

He did a double-take and then stared outright as one of the Nurses placed a portable curtain between them and Sam's bump, obscuring it from view as other Nurses prepped the Colonel for surgery. Carolyn approached Daniel, lowering her surgical mask as Sam continued to cry, "Daniel, it's a breech, as you already know... but Sam's cervix isn't dilating enough; possibly because of the accelerated growth and development of your child. We're going to have to do a C-section to minimise the risk to Sam and the baby. We've already administered a regional anaesthetic to help with the pain."

Daniel nodded as Carolyn returned to continue her work. He kissed Sam, noticing that her eyes were glassy and that she began to gasp less. He whispered despite being very scared, "You're going to be fine, honey. Come on, just stay with me."

She whispered hoarsely, her eyes closed, "What's happening?"

"Looks like you won't have to push Junior out. Carolyn's doing a C-section."

She stared up at him, fearful for her child's welfare. "She can't. Junior's going to have a higher likelihood of developing asthma or other respiratory..."

He kissed her hand and spoke to her reassuringly. "Sam. Listen to me. It's a breech birth... and your cervix isn't expanding enough to deliver the baby safely. Just remember those deep breaths we talked about, okay? Or recite Pi."

Sam nodded as she breathed through her discomfort. Much to Daniel's confusion at first, and then amusement, she murmured, her eyes closed, "Three-point-one-four-one-five-nine-two-six-five-three-five-eight-nine-seven-nine-three-two-three-eight-four-six-two-six-four-three-three-eight-three-two-seven-nine-five-zero-two-eight-eight-four-one-nine-seven-one-six-nine-three-nine-nine-three-seven-five-one-zero-five-eight..."

As Sam frowned, trying to remember the next digit, a Nurse lowered the curtain between them and the procedure. Daniel propped Sam up on her pillows, and they both watched as Carolyn gently eased a small, blood covered baby, feet first out of an unseen part of the Colonel's abdomen. Sam gasped, but this time in amazement as she took in the sight of the baby. Daniel smiled, overwhelmed at the sight and he kissed his wife, whispering,

"Told ya you'd do it."

The curtain was drawn once again as some Nurses went about removing the placenta and then stitching Sam up. Meanwhile, Carolyn, after a Nurse had cleaned the baby and performed the necessary tests on it, quickly placed it in a special cot, which was quickly wheeled away. Sam said, scared, "Junior didn't cry. What's going on? Daniel!"

Before Daniel could get up, Carolyn returned and approached the Jacksons. She said as she removed her mask, looking at Daniel in concern, "We've had to put her in an incubator for the time being... as a precaution due to the pre-term birth. We're running some tests on her now... but you've got nothing to worry about. You can see her now if you want to..."

Daniel glanced at Sam, who nodded for him to go, and he nodded. "Okay." He kissed Sam, whispering, "I love you."

She sniffed as she began to cry. "I know. I love you too."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Daniel stood over a clear plastic incubator which contained his newborn daughter. He blinked back tears on seeing the wires attached to her, leading to beeping monitors near him. He hesitantly reached inside the incubator to hold the baby's hand, stroking her tiny fingers as he whispered, "Hey. I'm your Dad." His hope grew however when the tiny hand squeezed his fingers with a seemingly disproportionate strength, and he smiled. "You're definitely your Mom's daughter. Just hang in there, okay? Your Mom's going to want to see you, and your big brother too... and all those uncles, and that aunt of yours."

He stroked her fingers, wishing that he could hold her in his arms. Excited nonetheless at the birth of his daughter, and hopeful too, Daniel let go of her hand slowly, watching her sleep. "I'll see you later. Your Mom says 'hi'."

Eventually managing to tear himself away as medics returned to continue their tests, Daniel left the room with a lingering glance, wanting to tell Sam everything and completely not knowing where to start. Feeling giddy, he returned to Sam's bedside as the Nurses finished stitching, and the Colonel asked, looking fearful, "Daniel? How is she?"

He leaned down to kiss her and whispered with a glowing smile, "Just... perfect."


	17. Chapter 17

Outside of an isolation room, Daniel held Jake in his arms, the boy looking around the Infirmary with large curious eyes. The Archaeologist touched his son's cheek, getting him to focus on him rather than an SG team marching past to their post-mission physicals. Daniel nodded in greeting at the soldiers and then said to Jake, attempting to get his attention once again,

"Jake. Look at me." Daniel touched his cheek again and the toddler looked at him. He held his son's hand as he spoke. "We're going to go see your little sister now. Are you ready?"

Jake squirmed and began to pout. "Wanna see Mommy."

Daniel frowned a little in concern, not wanting the boy to choose that moment to throw a tantrum. "We can see Mommy later... we're just going to have to work your charms on Auntie Carolyn, okay? Later, I promise." He smiled as he kissed the curious toddler. "Come on, your baby sister wants to see you."

Smiling slightly, satisfied that Jake didn't have any objections, Daniel opened the door to the isolation room. He stopped on seeing Jack and the rest of SG-1 standing around the incubator in the middle of the room. Daniel smiled at the sight before going about washing his hands and Jake's, and putting latex gloves on. The Archaeologist then urged the toddler to follow him to the incubator, walking slowly so that Jake didn't think that he was being left behind.

Daniel nodded in greeting at his friends, who each nodded in reply, remaining silent as they maintained their vigil. Daniel picked Jake up so he could look down into the incubator at the small baby. He then reached inside, a tender expression on his face when the baby tightly grasped his finger. He looked at Jake and said in a hushed voice,

"Here's your little sister."

Jake frowned and began to babble as the others looked amused. Daniel nodded and said softly, having worked out what the boy was saying, "She hasn't got a name yet. She came quicker than we thought she was going to. Mommy and I are going to have a talk about that." He smiled when Jake babbled again. "No, _Jake_ is not a girl's name... but I'll let Mommy know that you feel so strongly about it."

When Daniel's gaze eventually moved to Jack and then Cam, he found the Air Force officers looking at him with varying expressions of incredulity. Jack remarked, "I have to say... with us not understanding what _you_ say half the time, it's still a surprise to know that you understand the little snot machine."

Daniel shrugged, not understanding why his friends were surprised. "He's my son. Of course I understand him."

Cam quipped with a brief smirk, "Helps being poly-lingual, doesn't it?"

"Oh, Mitchell... what have I told you about mixing your polys with your multis?"

Cam fixed the Archaeologist with a steady glare. "That if I ever knew the difference, I would end up like you?"

Daniel paused for thought very briefly. "No... I think we're in agreement here that if I get repeated concussion and play a lot of football, I'd end up like you."

Teal'c appeared highly intrigued at the exchange, while Vala looked from one man to the other as though she were watching a tennis match. Jack, meanwhile, looked at Daniel meaningfully. "I feel betrayed here. That was our thing. You're not only having it with Mitchell, you've taken it to a whole new level." Cam smirked as Daniel rolled his eyes. "And, you know, it's like watching another man screw your wife. You hate to watch but you can't help admiring the technique."

Daniel suddenly went very still. He hung his head for a moment, curbing several albeit negative and violent desires. He then chose to completely ignore Jack as he fussed a little over his son and then looked down at his daughter. Vala looked at Cam for an explanation of the sudden downturn of mood in the room. Cam shook his head and glanced at the General in guarded hostility while Teal'c coldly regarded Jack for a long moment before returning his gaze to the baby.

Meanwhile, Jack looked decidedly guilty as he realised what he had said. He was about to apologise but then thought better of it. He was undecided as to whether he could now defend himself adequately should Daniel attack him, the Archaeologist having gained a lot of fighting skills over the years – too many – a doubt which both impressed and scared the old General.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sam appeared surprised on seeing Daniel enter her isolation room with Jake in his arms. She then smiled warmly from her bed, having been unable to spend a great deal of quality time with her son since the team's return from Tuwria. She continued to smile as Daniel leaned over her bed to kiss her, and she asked as she reached out to hold her son's hand,

"How is she? They wouldn't let me be with her for very long."

Taking a seat at Sam's bedside, Daniel replied, looking tired, "She's doing fine. They managed to stabilise her heart rate. It was nothing. Carolyn just wants to make sure she's monitored around the clock."

Sam nodded weakly. She then reached out to touch his stubbly jaw. "Daniel, go home. I'll be fine. You really need some rest."

He smiled slightly as he stopped Jake from undoing and then chewing his shirt buttons. "If I go home, I won't sleep. How are you feeling?"

She grimaced a little, and she remarked, "Like a million different things... none of them good."

She smiled once again as Daniel smoothed her hair, and her eyes moved to Jake, peeking at her from his father's chest. She said, gazing at the boy affectionately as Daniel looked down at him, "Hey there, my little man. Did you see your sister?"

Jake nodded, and she asked, "What was she like?"

Jake proceeded to babble in reply, and she frowned a little. She shook her head a little and remarked to Daniel, "This is what I get for marrying a linguist."

Daniel looked down with a shy smile before saying, "He said she looked very small and pink."

She appeared wistful as she gazed at their son. "I wish I could understand him all the time."

"Oh... don't think I can either. The little guy has me scratching my head a lot of the time."

She smiled and then said, reaching out to Jake, "Come on, hand him over."

Daniel suddenly looked concerned. "Uh... Sam..."

"He won't jump on me... we have an understanding."

He raised his eyebrows briefly. "He only jumps on me?"

Sam smirked. "There ya go. The only condition in the Treaty we agreed upon."

"Oh, so I take it that the peculiar brand of humour is a Carter family thing?"

She chuckled and then said, looking tired, "I haven't been able to hold him since we came back. Everything has happened so fast."

Daniel lifted Jake up to lie at Sam's side, the boy playing with Sam's hair. Sam grinned and hugged Jake. She smoothed the back of his head and whispered as she watched him, "Oh, I've missed you so much, little man." She kissed him on the cheek and continued to grin when he beamed at her. "And you've grown a lot too." He giggled when she patted his backside. "You're not gonna be Mommy's little man any more if you keep growing like this."

Daniel laughed a little on watching Sam interact with their son, knowing that she needed to re-establish her bond with the boy. Smiling softly, he said quietly as he got up to leave, "I'll be next door if you need me."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sam was seated in a wheelchair which Daniel pushed into an isolation room. Jack and the rest of SG-1 had suspended their vigil for the time being so that Sam could have some private bonding time with the baby. Daniel stood at his wife's side as she held the baby's hand, a distraught expression on her face on seeing her child dwarfed even further by the wires and tubes running in and out of her, as well as the size of the incubator in relation to the baby.

Daniel whispered, wanting to reassure Sam, "She's doing really well." His voice wavered a little with the densely packed emotion just beneath the surface. "She's already breathing by herself. She had a lot more things hooked up to her when she was first put in there."

Sam's other hand rested on the plastic of the incubator, the Colonel now beyond tears. She whispered in reply, her voice raw with pain, "She shouldn't be in there. If I'd waited..." She gulped, shaking her head in regret. "If I'd let Landry send someone else in my stead..."

Dismayed but not surprised by her guilt, he crouched at her side. He said softly, "Sam... look at me." She reluctantly met his gaze, and he continued emphatically, "It's not your fault. You couldn't have known. And to be frank with you right now, you saved our lives. So don't think and agonise about what might have been, what could have been... this is how things happened, and I for one am thankful that I still have you... and Jake, and our beautiful little girl."

He lovingly gazed up at her, cupping her jaw as he did so. She held that same hand as she began to cry quietly, the Colonel trembling beneath his touch. She asked, looking anguished, "How can you still love me? How can you still look at me after everything that I've done?"

He continued to gaze at her, knowing that her perceptions and behaviour were being affected by a tangle of confusing albeit hormonally affected emotions. Careful to avoid the IV line going into her arm, Daniel hugged her tightly. He softly kissed her neck and replied, now close to crying himself, "You didn't do anything, Sam. None of this was your fault. It's just a continuation of our lives of the past twelve years... things happening unexpectedly... accidents and suchlike." He smoothed the back of her head, and her neck and back. He then pulled away a little so he could look her in the eyes. "Nothing will ever stop me loving you, okay? Remember that."

She sniffed, eventually looking down at her lap. "It hurts so much."

Knowing that she was referring to her mental anguish, as well as her physical pain and discomfort, he said as he dried her tears, "But it'll go. It might not feel like it now, but it will."

As Carolyn entered the room, Sam nodded, slowly meeting Daniel's gaze. She then said, glancing nervously at their daughter, "I want to hold her. I think it might help her. No-one will let me hold her properly."

He squeezed her hands and then looked up at the doctor, who was already detaching monitors from the baby, having opened up the incubator. Leaving a couple of tubes still attached, Carolyn nodded to Daniel, who carefully picked the baby up from incubator. He, very slowly and carefully, placed the child in Sam's arms and watched as she gazed down at the baby in wonder, holding a tiny hand.

Carolyn moved away from the Jacksons to give them some privacy, and Daniel kneeled at his wife's side. Sam trailed a finger across the baby's tiny features, smiling slightly as the newborn squirmed at the contact. She frowned a little however on noticing that the baby attempted to suckle her finger when she moved it over her lips. Getting an idea, Sam looked at Daniel and said, hope in her eyes,

"Undo my gown."

He immediately got to his feet and did as he was told, knowing what she wanted to do. As Carolyn rushed over to detach a pipe going into the infant's stomach, Sam lowered her gown from her shoulders and began to breastfeed the child. She almost cried in relief when the baby responded, a tiny hand going to Sam's breast. She whispered encouragingly to her daughter as Daniel rubbed her shoulder,

"That's it, sweetie. That's it. Good girl. Keep going."

She looked at Daniel, tears running down her cheeks, her face hopeful nonetheless. He smiled slightly as he kissed her, reassuring her with that gesture alone that though the road may be long, hope would never be out of reach. An arm around his wife, he gazed down at his daughter and gently stroked her cheek with a finger, saying softly as he glanced at his wife,

"We're going to have to give her name, you know."

Sam couldn't help but chuckle at his words. She replied as she regarded him affectionately, "No time like the present. What do you have in mind?"

He remarked with feigned innocence, resulting in Sam spluttering with laughter, "Oh... I don't know... but her big brother thinks 'Jake' is a good name,"

"Scarily enough, that's more sensible than Jack's whole list of suggestions before Jake was born."


	18. Chapter 18

_Lyrics featured are Keep on the Sunny Side by the Carter Family. _

_Apologies for the short chapter... the next one will be longer_

0o0o0o0o0o0o0

While Sam got some rest, Daniel sat next to their daughter's incubator, watching over her as he held her hand. He talked to her softly, talking about what he had done that day, and about the times to come when he and Sam could take her home. He stroked her tiny fist and began to hum quietly. The humming soon became singing as he tried to find some way to keep his daughter fighting, and also to keep himself awake.

"_There's a dark and a troubled side of life  
There's a bright and a sunny side too  
Though we meet with the darkness and strife  
The sunny side we also may view_

Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side  
Keep on the sunny side of life  
It will help us every day it, it will brighten all our way  
If we keep on the sunny side of life..."

He glanced to the side on sensing a presence. He looked up to see Jack standing next to him, looking down at the baby. __

"_Oh the storm and its fury broke today  
Crushing hopes that we cherish so dear  
The clouds and storm will in time pass away  
The sun again will shine bright and clear..._"

Daniel looked up at Jack and regarded him apologetically. He said quietly, "Jack... about before..."

Jack took a seat next to him and said, looking at the baby, "No, that was me saying stuff without thinking again. I figured it reminded you of..." He grimaced awkwardly. "... _that_ whole thing."

Daniel sighed softly as he too gazed at the baby. He appeared wistful. "It wasn't just about what Sha're went through, Jack. I almost lost Sam. I know that's happened a lot over the years, but... you know... on top of everything, she was pregnant as well. It must have been a tough choice for her to make to lead the rescue mission."

Jack shook his head as he glanced at his friend. "It was and it wasn't."

Daniel nodded pensively and said sadly, "If I lost Sam, I really don't know what I'd do. She keeps me going. Without her... I'm nothing at all."

Jack frowned and snapped, "Hey, enough of that! You've still got Carter. Don't rain on it." Despite the harshness of his words, however, Jack patted Daniel on the back, saying in that gesture what he struggled to convey in words. Changing the subject, Jack asked, looking at the baby once again,

"You and Carter got round to giving Junior a name yet? Or am I gonna have to do it?"

Daniel smiled slightly as he finally let of his daughter's hand. "Yes." He looked at Jack and took a small breath. "Joan Edlyn."

Jack raised his eyebrows slowly for a moment. He then said, "Well, at least you didn't go for Lobelia Baggins. I think I would have had to shoot you." He glanced at Daniel. "What's with the middle name?"

Daniel continued to smile. "Well... 'Edlyn' is a name with old English origins, meaning 'small noble one'. As for 'Joan'... it's a mediaeval feminine form of 'John', although her Uncle Jack's name is actually 'Jonathan'..."

Jack appeared stunned, and then annoyed. "Daniel..."

Daniel's smile vanished as he once again held his daughter's hand. "If it hadn't been for you, I wouldn't be here holding Joanie's hand... and Sam wouldn't be here. I owe you everything."

"Oh for cryin' out loud..." Jack sighed. "Okay, Daniel, I'm honoured that you and Carter wanna do the whole namesake thing... and, you know, I might have happened to suggest naming your first little person 'Jack'... amongst many, many other things... but I'm not dead, and I don't plan on changing that for a while yet."

Daniel's head dropped in quiet frustration as Jack launched into the many reasons why naming the baby after him would be a bad idea. When the General had eventually stopped, Daniel looked at him once more, and Jack sighed once again. "Damn, stubborn Jacksons..." He raised his index finger briefly as if he were making a point. "If that jinxes me, it'll be on your head, Space Monkey. Yours and Carter's."

"Jack... she's your niece, and right now, I can't think of a better person to name her after."

"See? That's my point. You're tired. When's the last time you actually hit the hay? You haven't slept since we came back from Aladdin's cave." Daniel rolled his eyes, and Jack snapped, "Hey, enough of that out of you. You may have way less grey in your hair than I do right now, but you're not that much younger than me."

Daniel suddenly feigned innocence. "Thirteen years."

"What?!"

"You're just a little under thirteen years older than me and Sam."

"Nice to know you've caught some of Carter's Math." Jack paused. "Actually, no... it's a little disturbing." He looked at Daniel again, concerned. "Get some sleep, buddy. I vaguely remember being forty-four... although I was retired... and very tired at the time." He patted Daniel on the back. "Come on, I'll watch over little Joanie here. She'll be fine."

Daniel turned to meet Jack's gaze. "Oh, Jack... you have been out of touch. You know I'm not going anywhere."

"Nice try though, wasn't it?"

"Not one of your best, if I'm perfectly honest."

Jack remarked, "Oh, how you always are..."


	19. Chapter 19

_I apologise for how long it's taken me to get this posted... it's just been quite hard to write this chapter especially._

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Daniel glanced at his wife every so often from the driving seat. The archaeologist tried not to show his anxiety surrounding her ordeal, but after many sleepless nights at the SGC, considering how things might have been, he could barely believe that she was still with him. Sam, who had been resting her eyes for most of the journey home, eventually opened her eyes and said, looking drawn, "Daniel, I'm not going anywhere."

He glanced at her once again. "Sorry... it's just..."

She nodded and closed her eyes once again. "I know." She continued after a pause. "It's how I feel every time you come home to us." She shifted in her seat so that she was facing him, and she rested her hand on his thigh as she gazed at him with a wistful affection. "Concentrate on getting us home, Daniel."

He appeared troubled, but he nodded, completely shifting his focus to what he was doing. "Okay."

She smiled a little as she closed her eyes, her hand still on his thigh. Daniel glanced at her, and then back at his children sleeping in the back seat.

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sam looked up from her chair, into the sunlight streaming into the room through the window. She smiled slightly and then gazed down at the small bundle in her arms. The clamour and rising dread of panic surrounding her ordeal at the hands of the Tuweiians; an accelerated pregnancy, and an emergency Caesarian section, now all seemed a world away. Home in recent years had seemed like a bubble to her, helping her to escape the stress, the horror, and the relentless exertion of her job; a haven of sunshine and hope. And here she was, holding her prematurely born child.

She gazed at Joan in wonder, the Colonel holding a tiny fist in her fingers. The baby now looked much healthier than she had in her first hours at the SGC, and she had put on some much needed weight too. Sam tenderly smoothed her daughter's crown, watching as the child squirmed, and then began to cry. The Colonel smiled as she soothed the baby, tears pricking her eyes as she noticed the difference of the sound from the weak mewling that Joan had been limited to some weeks previously.

Sam looked up to see Daniel in the doorway of the room, the archaeologist holding Jake's hands. Daniel remained in the doorway as Jake shyly walked towards his mother. She smiled at the boy encouragingly and said, "Come on, Jakey, it's okay. Come see your sister."

Jake eventually reached his mother, and Sam smoothed his hair affectionately. She asked him as he peered at Joan, "Do you want to hold her?"

After a moment's hesitation, he nodded, and she lifted him up to sit in her lap. She let him hold the baby, an arm in place so that he wouldn't drop the infant. She kissed his head and whispered as they both gazed down at Joan, "She's so small but she's getting bigger, and one day, when she's big enough, you can play with her. You can show her all your toys... like the Tickle Me Elmo that Uncle Jack got you..."

Sam grinned as an excited Jake proceeded to list all of the toys that he would show Joan, while Daniel left. She looked up some moments later to see that Daniel had returned with his camera, and she whispered to Jake as Joan squirmed, "Sweetie, look up at Daddy."

She and Daniel laughed when Jake squealed, and she kissed him on the cheek. As Daniel instructed them to smile, Sam rested her head against Jake's as they both looked up at the camera. A moment later, Jake flinched at the flash, startling his sister, who began to whimper, and then scream. Daniel quickly stepped in to take Jake from Sam as she soothed the baby. As Joan continued to cry, Daniel kneeled at Sam's side and said softly as Sam began to look stressed,

"Sam, it's okay. Let's settle her down in her crib. You need to rest."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

"Well aren't you a speckled pup in a red wagon..."

While Sam rested upstairs, Cam, perched on an arm of an armchair, held Joan in his arms. Vala frowned in confusion from the same armchair, the alien appearing confused at the Colonel's utterance. She then appeared thoughtful before saying, "Cameron, I'm sure you would have noticed... by now at least, that Joan's a human baby... not a dog... baby..."

As Cam appeared momentarily confused at the remark, Teal'c stoically said from the sofa, "I believe the remark to be a colloquialism from ColonelMitchell's upbringing."

Cam glared at Vala in disbelief. "You've got to admit that a speckled pup's cute. How could you not?"

"Okay, yes, but... I fail to see how you can refer to Joan as a canine when she clearly isn't."

Daniel said, smiling slightly as he entered the room from the kitchen, returning to the kitchen a few moments later on retrieving some glasses. "It's an old southern saying, Vala. It's an exclamation of cuteness. He's not calling Joan a dog. It's just an expression... like, how you would say, a playful twist of words in our Earth language."

Vala nodded slowly, as though she was processing what she had been told. Cam smiled as he looked down at her. "Aw, you'll get it eventually. Jackson here is full of linguistic peculiarities."

Vala retorted, amused, "Oh, I would say that you are."

Cam glared at her, and then at Teal'c, who said with a smirk, "Indeed."

Cam smiled a little as he gazed down at the baby in his arms. He said quietly, as though mesmerised by the sight of the infant, "It makes you think, doesn't it? All those years of fighting the good fight, trashing the bad guys, and it's the geekiest of us who find the time to make babies."

He stroked Joan's cheek as she yawned, and Vala leaned against Cam to hold one of the baby's hands. Vala remarked as Teal'c's eyebrow shot up, "Well... I did have a 'kid', Cameron, as you may recall. Hard not to notice that particular one..." She grimaced a little and sighed as remembered Adria, and the number of times she had attempted albeit in vain to give her a chance to change her ways.

Cam didn't have the heart to glare at her. Instead, he looked down at her sympathetically. "That was the Ori, not you. They exploited you to further their crusade."

Teal'c nodded, adding, "Fear not, ValaMalDoran. If you should voluntarily and naturally conceive a child, it will not be evil." An eyebrow rose slowly. "However, as to the purity of its spirit and virtue, I dare not speculate..."

Cam chuckled in amusement, looking down at the baby again. Vala, however, raised a finger as though to make a point. She looked at Teal'c semi-challengingly. "Laugh... or scorn all you want, Muscles... I'm going to have babies much better looking than..." She smirked as she looked up at Cam from her seat. "... speckled infant canines in a red wagon."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Daniel entered his and Sam's room to find his wife sitting immobile on the bed, appearing to stare out of the window. Concerned not least for her mental state but also that she had no clothes on, he sat down next to her, wrapping a blanket around her as he realised just how cold her skin was. Sighing softly, he held her tightly, wishing that he could make her happy again. He whispered into her damp hair,

"Sam?"

After a moment, Sam began to sniffle, her body trembling much to his further dismay. He attempted to soothe her despite feeling out of his depth. "Sam, I'm here. It's okay. Just let it out."

She whispered hoarsely, "I got lucky, Daniel. I got so very lucky. I could have lost Joan out there. I was so intent on being the hero that I neglected someone so important." She looked up at him, looking as though she had lost all faith in herself. "Is that the kind of person I am, Daniel? So self-centred and willing to defy orders that were in place for a very good reason? I would still be pregnant, and Joan would be developing normally if I hadn't been so damn stubborn."

He held her tighter, his chest hurting a little with the knowledge that Sam would take a long time to forgive herself, and in the mean time would remain in an inordinate amount of pain and guilt. His eyes moist with tears that he refused to cry, he kissed her hair. As a hand reached under the blanket to rub her back, he remarked softly, "The day you stop being so stubborn is the day I get incredibly worried about you."

Sam shed the blanket and held onto Daniel tightly, relieved that things overall had worked out for the best despite the bumps in the road. He continued to slowly caress her back as he too counted his blessings. She eventually asked, looking up at him, "Has everyone gone home?"

"Yeah... Jack came and went a few times. He insisted on staying the night but I said that we were fine. Really took some arguing... and then he wouldn't take 'no' for an answer about spending all of tomorrow with us before his flight back to D.C..." They glanced in the direction of their door on hearing the distant sound of the front door closing. He rolled his eyes. "All that arguing and he does it anyway. Typical."

She smiled at him, feigning innocence as she remarked, "Well, Generals make passes at linguists in glasses..."

He retorted cheekily, his cheeks reddening, "And so do Colonels."

He kissed her and was about to leave the room, when Jack's voice could be heard from the other side of their closed door, startling them both, "It's only me... which you probably already figured anyway." He paused. "Well, if you haven't, then I'm very disappointed in you. All those years of going through the ol' Orifice must have addled your brains... not that I'm jealous or anything..."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sam lie in Daniel's arms, feeling far safer than she had done in what seemed like a very long time. Daniel soundly slept, the archaeologist barely having slept more than a couple of hours here and there since their return from Tuwria, now weeks previously. Sam looked up at him, their vicinity illuminated by the dim light of a bedside lamp due to the Colonel having developed a fear of the dark. She gazed at the features that she had come to know so very well, and neither for the first nor, she hoped, for the last time, she felt highly grateful that she still had him in her life, and at her side after so many tumultuous years.

One day, she knew, she would be able to work through the conflicting feelings surrounding the danger she had put herself and her child in. One day, she would be able to forgive herself and accept that her actions resulted in SG-1 coming home. But that day hadn't happened yet... but she had hope that it would come soon, thanks to the unerring and unconditional love and support of the man in whose arms she lie.

Feeling much better than she had in a long time, she kissed his bare chest, and whispered, "Thank you."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

_Just one more chapter left now. Thanks guys. :o)_


	20. Epilogue

_Epilogue..._

_Sort of a pre-tag to Enemy at the Gate (SGA), but with one difference to that storyline (other than Sam's surname in this story; it is fan fiction after all)..._

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Daniel emerged from the active event horizon of the Stargate with Cam, Vala, and Teal'c. Each glancing backwards as the event horizon disappeared, they made their way down the ramp into the gateroom. They gave their weapons to waiting personnel, Cam signing something on a clipboard that had been thrust towards him by a plucky Sergeant. They all looked up when Sam walked in, and they smiled in greeting. Cam remarked with a grin as Daniel kissed her,

"Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes..."

Teal'c added with a fond smile, "Indeed."

Vala began to pout. She remarked, "You know, I was all set to agree and say 'me three', but you just had to go ahead and be predictable, didn't you, Muscles?"

Teal'c simply smirked as Cam quipped, "Hey, after twelve years of doing this job, the man _owns_ that word. It's his thing. Leave him be and think up your own thing."

Vala raised an eyebrow, placing her hand on her hip. "Well, my dear Colonel, my _thing_ as you call it, appears to be naming Muscles here. But I really ought to have a catchphrase that can be used as universally as 'indeed'."

"Yours will never be as cool and you know it."

Daniel's arm around her waist ever so slightly off-setting any professionalism she tried to maintain, Sam asked, looking around at her friends, "How was the mission?"

She nodded in acknowledgement when each of their faces darkened, the Colonel noticing the considerable downturn in her friends' moods. Glancing at Daniel, who had evaded answering questions about the mission up until that point, Sam said, turning to leave, "Okay, guys, you know the drill – Infirmary and then briefing room. You've got an hour."

Cam asked, Teal'c and Vala stopping further down the corridor, "Landry called yet?"

Sam nodded. "Oh yeah, he's due to call again in a couple of hours." She smiled briefly, glancing at Daniel. "I think he misses us."

"Either that or he's worried that SG-1 is boned without you. Hell, I share that sentiment." He glanced at Teal'c and Vala. He then said to Daniel as he walked away with the others, "Don't be too late; Doctor Lam is scarier than her Pa."

Daniel nodded as the rest of the team hurried off to the Infirmary, Vala rather loudly brainstorming new catchphrases much to Cam's chagrin and Teal'c's silent amusement. Daniel then looked back at Sam, who was already watching him in worried anticipation. They slowly walked in the direction their friends had disappeared to, and he spoke after a few moments, albeit quietly. "The planet's now called 'Riapea.' Not long after we left, there was a palace coup in Tuweiia. Alaric, his family, and his supporters were all wiped out. The official account points the finger at disgruntled members of his personal guard who thought he was too easy to forgive and forget when it came to Riapea."

Daniel grimaced a little, and Sam, even more worried, asked, "However...?"

He gazed at her sadly. "I don't think it was, Sam. Riape took over Tuweiia soon afterwards. She even had Alaric's sister killed – you know, the one who helped you and Jack."

"Alara," Sam supplied helpfully, despite being galled at the story.

"Yeah, Alara." Daniel paused. "She wasted no time in proclaiming herself Queen of both states, and in enslaving dissenters."

Sam sighed, shaking her head in disbelief. "It beggars belief."

He nodded, a rueful expression on his face. "You've got to wonder about the state of human condition... that having everything is still not enough, and how avarice and unlimited power can drive someone to such depths of depravity."

They entered a lift together. As the doors closed, the lift beginning its ascent of seven levels with a lurching start, Sam said, troubled, "It's only time before she figures out their Stargate. She could wage wars of conquest. She's pretty ambitious... and open-minded at that."

Daniel sighed softly. He shook his head. "I doubt it. It's the Sword of Damocles. She's always going to be scared of that single hair snapping and the dagger falling. She already seems quite insecure with her power."

She nodded and asked, glancing at him, "So... are we removing their address from the dialling computer?"

"Well, I don't see any point in returning without reinforcements. The first time I encountered Riape, she'd had me tied up." Needing a change of subject, he gave her hand a squeeze and asked as the lift doors opened, the couple emerging into the medical level of the SGC, "How are the kids?"

Sam allowed herself to smile for the first time since seeing SG-1 return. She replied, glancing at him coyly, "Jake thought he'd scare Uncle Jack with some Spanish today. They ended up having a full-blown conversation, although I think our boy was disappointed that Jack didn't pull the same face he did when he suddenly chose to speak Greek."

Daniel chuckled. "That's always entertaining." He sighed happily, the mission now mentally seeming a world away. "How's Joanie doing?"

"Let's just say that it's just as well that she's not crawling yet... 'cos everything that can go in her mouth, will go in her mouth. Honestly. She'll eat anything... just like her old man."

He retorted cheekily as they reached the Infirmary, "Just as well I'll eat anything... with your cooking..." He flinched when Sam punched him in the arm. "Ow!" He stared at her accusingly. "Sam!"

She smiled at him sweetly, remembering overhearing a pearl of wisdom that Daniel had imparted to Jake once. "Never piss off the person who makes most of your meals."

He smiled back at her. "I try not to." He stooped, gently kissing her. "But it's worth it sometimes." He caressed her cheek as he gazed down at her. "See you later, okay?"

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

Sam, in civilian clothes, sat in verdant grass, a much healthier looking Joan in her lap. She lie on her back, holding the now gurgling infant above her. Sam grinned up at her daughter, amazed, neither for the first time nor for the last time, how much the girl had changed, and how she sometimes appeared to change before her eyes. Sam said softly, a glimpse of sadness in her eyes,

"Oh, I'm going to miss everything about you, my little one." Sam gently lowered the baby onto her front, and smoothed the girl's downy fair hair. Sam's eyes suddenly became moist. "Daddy's going to get to see all of the wonderful things that you'll do in the next few months." She gazed down at her daughter with an emotional smile as Joan took to sucking her mother's blouse. "... but I'll always be there with you, Joanie. Always."

Sam turned her head to see Daniel and Jake coming towards them. Daniel lie on his back next to Sam as Jake promptly sat on him. Concerned as he studied his wife, the archaeologist asked, "Sam?"

Sam shook her head and then gazed at him. "Just thinking of all the things I'm going to miss when General Landry comes back from D.C." She carefully extricated a now soggy part of her blouse from Joan's mouth. "You're not mad at me, are you?"

Daniel frowned. "Uh... why would I be? You deserve this... especially after effectively losing your command to Mitchell." He shrugged. "I know you have this co-command arrangement going on, but no-one buys it."

Sam chuckled, quietly proud of how supportive Daniel had always been of her. "It's only the team who needs to buy it, Daniel..."

Daniel smiled a little as he kissed her. "I am so proud of you. We all are. Jack said you need your own command again, and no-one wants to move Mitchell... or let you return to Atlantis." He made a face and then looked up at the sky. "I missed you."

Sam smiled as she gazed at him, the memories of her time in Atlantis fresh in her mind. "I missed you too." She sighed. "We're going to be okay, aren't we?"

He watched her once again as Jake toddled off to play nearby. "Oh Sam..." He put an arm around her. "You asked me that same question before you went to supervise the completion of Midway, and my answer still hasn't changed." He rubbed his daughter's back as she took to sucking her mother's dog tags. He then met Sam's gaze once more. "We always will be."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

A retired General Hammond was seated in his favourite chair as he looked out across an expanse of green. If he squinted a little, he could still make out the Texas Elm that had been planted as a sapling by his father during the General's boyhood. It held very special memories for him. It was under that same tree that he and his late wife had shared their first kiss. Other trees had been cut down over the years in the Hammond homestead, for firewood, furniture, and building material, but not that one. It symbolised far too much, the memories far too strong, for it to be callously hacked down and not given the respect that it deserved.

He looked up on hearing the screen door of the rear porch open, to see Daniel emerge, carrying Joan in his arms. Hammond beamed genially on seeing them and then on seeing Jake bounding out, talking a mile a minute, and then suddenly looking shy on seeing the old General. The first commander of Stargate Command looked up at Daniel and asked, "Where's everyone got to?"

Daniel replied in a soft tone of voice as Joan made gurgling noises as she stared at him, "Jack and Teal'c have gone to the store to get some Guinness. Sam and Mitchell are poking around under the hood of Kayla's car... and Vala is arranging Tessa's youngest daughter's..."

Hammond said with a nod, "Susie."

Daniel flashed him an apologetic smile. "Sorry, Sir. It's just she has so many children."

Hammond smirked. "I know how you feel, son. I have to keep lists. If Martha were still here, she'd remember the name of each one, their birth weights and birthdays..." He sighed wistfully. "I'm too old for all that."

As Jake wandered off to explore the greenery beyond the porch, Daniel said suddenly, "You know, there's one thing I've always wondered about..."

Hammond remarked with a laugh, "I'm surprised it's just one thing when it comes to you."

Daniel smiled briefly, and then said as he sat down next to the General, "There must have been an original timeline where SG-1 didn't return back to 1999."

Hammond frowned, confused. "I don't follow you."

Daniel, resisting the urge to explain himself really quickly, replied, "Before that mission, you gave Sam a note... you knew we'd be lost, but you had to let it happen otherwise your future and perhaps the future of this planet would be drastically different."

Hammond leaned back in his chair with a sigh. "I'm surprised it's taken you ten years to ask."

Daniel nodded, and continued as he rubbed Joan's back, "But there must have been an original timeline where you probably didn't believe us when we recognised you... and I've always wondered whether in one version of the timeline, SG-1 had to live out their lives... because it took a note from you to change things, and you gave us what we needed to return home again."

Hammond looked out into the rear of the homestead, where Jake was running around the Texas Elm. Smiling at that, and at something else, the old General quietly said, "All I know is that in 1969 I met four outstanding individuals who went on to become a huge part of my life." Knowing that Daniel's curiosity wasn't quite quenched, he said, "Honestly, I can't tell you what happened. I remember finding the note on Sam and knowing that there was something special about the four of you. Thirty years down the line, I knew I had to ensure that that meeting happened."

"Thank you."

"No need, Daniel. It was the least that I could do. You know, that's at least twice you've kept my career going." Daniel smiled slightly, and Hammond picked up a stunned Joan. He smiled down at the infant and then at Daniel. "You don't need me to tell you, Daniel, that you still have such a long road in front of you... and I'm not just talking about the Stargate programme."

Daniel smiled as Hammond lifted up Joan, the little girl promptly reaching out to grab the General's nose. "I know."

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

_Thank you so much for reading, reviewing, and favouriting/alerting. I honestly can't believe that it's taken almost seven months to finish, and I never really saw the tangential developments coming. Gosh. But I couldn't have done it without you guys. Thanks. :o) _

_Oh, and last but not least, I'd like to thank Amaranth Traces for her Planet Name Generator, which resulted in the names of the two alien civilisations in this story. The Generator can be found on hers and Thraesja's site, at www(dot)amaranthtraces(dot)com(f-slash)namegenerator(dot)php_


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